The Silence of the Chocobos
by Amarissia
Summary: Two years after Meteorfall, Cloud seeks the help of the imprisoned Sephiroth to stop a crossdressing clone. And that's about as sane as it gets. Includes SephCloud naughtiness and yaoi naughtiness in general.
1. Chapter 1

**UPDATE, FEBRUARY 2010: Now with slightly improved Japanese!**

Long time reader, first time poster. I'll make this part quick. This is a parody, but it's got a fair bit of seriousness.

_Notes_: I use "ShinRa" to refer to the company and "Shinra" as the president's last name. Italics are thoughts, and also memories. Memories are usually set in separate paragraphs. You'll see what I mean.

_Disclaimer_: Everything below that is not the product of my twisted mind belongs to the gods of SquareEnix.

_Rating_: M for language, sexual naughtiness and Jenova-related insanity. Also occasional references to other Final Fantasys, but you don't need to know them to read the story.

_With sincere apologies to Thomas Harris._

**THE SILENCE OF THE CHOCOBOS**  
_Chapter 1_

The quiet, dusty bluff overlooking the ruins of Midgar had grown more barren over the last two years. Even the small shoots of hardy green and weeds had dried up and withered, as though Zack's memory were choking the life from the piece of land. Nothing could thrive here in this static place. Only the sword was living, the relic of a dead man.

Kadaj kicked it over irritably. Despite the fact that he now had on a fashionable and flattering leather ensemble, he was still pissed off about the Black Rider outfits he and his brothers had been forced to wear two years ago. And although he had the least ridiculous name of the three remaining clones, Kadaj's dearest ambition was to change it - and himself - drastically.

Cloud Strife was the key to realizing this dream, Kadaj was sure of it. Wherever Cloud went, drama was not far behind.

_socsocsocsoc_

To be fair, Cloud never asked to be such an angst-magnet. He had been cheerful enough as a child, daydreaming about becoming a hero like Sephiroth. But ever since a less-than-perfect psychological evaluation had barred him from entering the SOLDIER program (something about being prone to multiple personality disorder, they had really called that one), everything had gone wrong. ShinRa turned out to be an intensely corrupt corporation that was almost Republican in its mistreatment of the planet, Hojo had been using SOLDIER for his own twisted and inhumane experiments, and Zack - who Cloud had threatened to kill many times - died a heroic death that he was still boasting about from beyond the grave. But most of the problems came from Sephiroth himself.

As a friend of Zack's, Cloud had gotten to know Sephiroth pretty well during his days at ShinRa, and his worshipped image of an all-knowing hero had quickly evaporated. Sephiroth was cold, inhuman and the ultimate warrior, yes, but he was also insane, fond of sexual harassment, and almost bi-polar in his mood swings. Two years ago, after Cloud defeated several versions of Sephiroth and Omnislashed the last, the one-winged angel had calmly dropped his Freudian sword and said, "All right, we'll call it a draw." With one last nostalgic grab at Cloud's ass, Sephiroth had willingly given himself up to the ShinRa guards who'd arrived to take him into custody. A special prison was built in what remained of ShinRa Headquarters in Midgar, and there the Nightmare remained.

The whole business made Cloud uneasy. No prison could hold Sephiroth, so what was he up to?

Every day, Cloud expected to receive word that Sephiroth escaped, but his ignored phone only stored up the usual messages - Tifa's expressions of concern, Vincent's increasingly emo ramblings about the blackness in his heart and the cold void of his eternal guilt, and Cid's cheerful anecdotes about the enormous knockers on the hooker he picked up last night. Occasionally Barret called as well, but Cloud avoided even his messages, because there's just something inherently alarming about a huge black man screaming at you in Japanese.

The last message, however, was from Tifa. For a brief moment Cloud was afraid he'd be asked to baby-sit Marlene and that new kid, whatever his name was, but after the last time, Tifa had relieved Cloud of duty and concluded that he just wasn't good with kids. Cloud didn't think that was particularly fair. After all, he hadn't even known Reno and Rude were in the bar that day; there was no way he could have predicted the kids finding the two Turks drunkenly going at it in the bathroom.

The message instructed Cloud to meet Reno in Healin. Cloud wanted to argue that he didn't remember that town existing, but to do that he would have had to return Tifa's call, so he sheathed his remarkably thick sword and got on his way...thinking, in all fairness, that he was hardly in a position to giggle about the phallic implications of _Sephiroth's _weaponry.

_socsocsocsoc_

As it turned out, Healin did exist, though it appeared to consist only of a single motel. It reminded Cloud of the "double dates" Cid had dragged him on a few disastrous times, which usually culminated in the drunk pilot ignoring the hooker and trying to have sex with Cloud instead. Cloud was in a testy mood already, and the memory of nearly being forced into a schoolgirl outfit put him even closer to the edge.

Rather than cut Reno's head off, Cloud graciously locked him out of the room. Rude came in, unselfconsciously pulling up his pants, and nodded to Cloud.

"Did I interrupt something?"

"Yes, and I thank you for that." Rufus Shinra's even voice preceded him, and his body followed, hidden beneath folds of gray silk and sitting slightly hunched in a wheelchair. "Sometimes I wonder if ShinRa has ever had a straight employee."

For a moment, Cloud considered raising his hand indignantly, but considering the weird aversion he had to Tifa's boobs, it didn't seem honest.

"Look, Shinra, I'm not having a good day. I'm being haunted by a guy who used to stalk me and his ex-girlfriend, I was attacked on the way over here by leather-fetish weirdos with Oedipal complexes, and dammit I'm tired of being groped by everyone within a fifty-mile radius, so you'd better just tell me what you want from me."

Rude, who had approached Cloud and been about to grope him, regretfully backed away and returned to Rufus's side. Rufus looked like he really wanted to ask for details, but merely cleared his throat and nodded.

"Very well. This is about the leather-fetish weirdos. Kadaj and his gang."

"Kadaj? What the hell does that mean?"

"Mean?"

"Yes, what does it mean," Cloud repeated impatiently. "My name is a reflection of my weak and changeable character, yours is descriptive of your hair color, Rude is...well, Rude, and Reno is a compulsive gambler. All of our names have meaning, so what does Kadaj mean?"

"Er...Kadaj's group is young and violent. As dangerous as they come."

"...Aerith's name is an anagram of 'I Earth'," Cloud continued, ignoring Rufus, "Sephiroth is some weird Kabbalah thing..."

"Focus, Strife! We've got a crisis here."

"Why should I care?" Cloud said coolly. "ShinRa's crises usually end with me floating in a giant test tube, or minus a best friend slash stalker."

"Ha!" Reno called from outside. "Slash! I told you Zack was hittin' that!"

Cloud kicked the door in response, which had no effect on Reno, but made Cloud feel slightly better...until Rufus spoke again.

"Sephiroth has been asking for you."

A sudden cold descended over Cloud. "He wants to see me?"

"Yes. Well, actually, first he asked us to hit you with a tranquilizer dart, remove your clothes and deposit you inside his cell, but when we explained the logistical problems of that, he suggested you simply visit him."

"It wouldn't have been so hard, Boss!" Reno called through the door. "I've got one of those darts right here."

"So that's what you needed to talk to me about?" Cloud said, scowling. "You want me to visit Sephiroth?"

"Think about it, Strife," Rufus said reasonably. "Kadaj and his gang are Sephiroth clones. He may be able to tell us what they're plotting and how to stop them. But Sephiroth won't speak to us. Only to you."

"I'm not with ShinRa anymore. I have no obligation to you."

"What about the world? Did you suffer so much to save it, only to watch it be terrorized by a handful of remnants?"

Cloud frowned. "The back-lighting is very dramatic, Rufus, but your politician speeches only work on those who haven't been repeatedly fucked by ShinRa."

"So what's one more time, then?" Reno called cheerfully. "C'mon, Strife, take one for the team! It's _Sephiroth_! Fuck, I'd do it!"

Rufus shook his head and groaned. "Ignore him. That's not what we're asking, Cloud, I promise. I may not have been president very long, but I know that Sephiroth is as dangerous psychologically as he is physically. Only someone who knows the way his mind works has any hope of getting the answers we need. For the sake of the planet, and all the people who could be hurt."

Cloud still looked uncertain, but he was listening, at least. "I don't know if you're aware of this, Shinra, but I failed to get into SOLDIER because I scored so low on the psych. test."

"Oh, I am aware. Rude has a copy of the results here. Rude?"

The gruff Turk unfolded a sheet of paper and read aloud: "'Strife's response to intense stress indicates a possibility of personality disintegration. Has difficulty keeping focus under pressure and appears easy to manipulate. Please don't give this kid a weapon.'"

"It was totally unfair, Zack was behind the instructor the whole time, making rude gestures and distracting me." Cloud looked suddenly suspicious. "Hey, aren't those kind of reports supposed to be confidential?"

Rude quickly tore the paper into bits and swallowed them. "What report?"

"Whatever. I'm clearly not the best person for the job."

"Oh, but you are!" Rufus insisted. "Sephiroth has consistently underestimated you in the past, and you've beaten him more than once. Most importantly, Sephiroth believes he can still manipulate you."

"But he can't?"

"Let's say no. Come on, Cloud. After all you've done, you can handle a little plot-advancing, can't you?"

"Fine. But if he attacks me with that zodiac-thing again, I'm retiring."

Muttering irritably, Cloud unlocked the door and headed back to Fenrir, confiscating Reno's tranquilizer dart as he went.

_socsocsocsoc_

Cloud's first thought upon waking was: _And Tifa says _I'm _not good with kids. At least _I've _never let Marlene get kidnapped._

His second thought was that Tifa's boobs were most definitely fake. This made them less frightening, but only by a bit.

Thought number three was more of a feeling - an unpleasant certainty that there was at least one Turk in the room, staring at his ass.

"Reno?" he guessed.

"And Rude," a gruff voice corrected.

Turning to face them, Cloud said, "For your sake, you better not have molested me in my sleep."

Reno scowled at Rude. "Damn it, I told you we forgot something!"

Rude shifted uncomfortably. "Er...weren't there...some kids living with you?"

"Yes, two. Marlene and...uh, another one."

"What other one?"

Cloud frowned and tilted his head downward, gazing at the floor with the most forlorn expression he could manage. If he could convince them he was busy having a flashback, maybe they would change the subject.

It didn't work.

"You don't know the other one's name," Rude concluded, with no change of tone or expression. "You don't care?"

"It takes me awhile to learn people's names, okay?" Cloud said.

"For the fiftieth time, it's Denzel," a female voice groaned from behind him.

"Denzel," Cloud grumbled. "Right. What does _that_ mean?"

"It means you're busted. Wait, where are the kids?"

"Kadaj's gang took them," Reno said cheerfully. "They're at their base now. The Forgotten City."

Unwelcome memories flashed through Cloud's mind. Sephiroth's voice. _Kill the Cetra girl, my puppet. _A dream of Aerith, of meeting her beneath the eerie trees of the Sleeping Forest. _Cloud,what's the worst that could happen? Sephiroth kills me and I spend a few years haunting you? Like that would ever happen! _Thoughts of Aerith led to Zack, and his kind face hovering over Cloud with concern. _Uh, Spiky, Seph didn't mean that, but you might not want to turn your back to him, just in case. _Aerith again, looking peacefully at him as she prayed for Holy, which made Cloud a bit uncomfortable, as he was not religious. Sephiroth, falling from nowhere, impaling her on Masamune and smiling as he did it. _See, Puppet? This is what happens to the competition. This is what will always happen, to those you love and those who love you._

Reno was waving his hand in front of Cloud's face. "I think he's really having one this time. Ah, there you are. Welcome back, Hot Stuff."

"Cloud?" Tifa said worriedly. "Aren't you going to save Marlene and Denzel?"

_This is what will always happen..._

"Tifa," he said quietly, painfully, "I'm not fit to help anyone. Not my family, not my friends, not even what's-his-name, the newbie. Nobody."

"That's why you stay away from us, isn't it? You think you can't protect the people you care about, so you try not to care about anyone. It's not going to work, Cloud. We're your friends."

"I'm not," Rude said bluntly.

"We're a team," Tifa continued. "Remember how scared you were when you realized Sephiroth could manipulate you? You said you thought you should quit, because you were a danger to the people around you, but you didn't. You kept going, and we won. We won because we were together."

Cloud endured all this with a neutral expression, as he usually did Tifa's inspirational friendship speeches. As she finished, however, he scowled.

"And yet you want me to go save the day _alone_."

Tifa shrugged. "Okay, fair enough. Let's consider some other options. They could go with you," she said, gesturing to the Turks.

Reno grinned lasciviously. Rude wiggled his fingers in anticipation.

"Or I could go instead," Tifa continued, "and you can run the bar tonight and deal with all the drunk, grabby patrons. A lot of truckers have been asking about you."

Cloud shuddered, remembering the attention he always received from Tifa's large, tipsy regulars, all of it unwanted. He had never liked bars anyway. Except...there was that time Zack had dragged him out to a tavern in Midgar, despite Cloud's protesting and his being underage. Everyone had stared then too, but it wasn't as frightening, because Zack had put his arm around Cloud as they walked in and kept it there all night. The other customers had assumed the two young men were a couple and kept their distance, fearful of the enormous sword the taller of them carried, but really it was just Zack being protective. He had always been that way, from the beginning of their friendship.

_Don't worry, Spiky. No one's allowed to stalk you but me._

Cloud smiled, but the expression was as sad as a frown. Tifa looked at him pleadingly, waiting for him to come back.

"Which is it? A memory or us?"

Aerith's ethereal voice whispered from within Cloud, from all around him, also pleading. _Zack, it's my turn! Stop being a Cloud-hog!_

_I let you die_, Cloud thought mournfully, remembering the light reflecting in her green eyes, the shimmer of White Materia bouncing down the columns that served as steps, delivering Aerith's prayer to the planet. _And Zack._

_There was nothing you could have done. Cloud, we love you. Even if you are sort of a jinx._

Tifa, waiting for an answer. Cloud cleared his throat.

"That depends. Which memory?"

Glaring, Tifa pointed to the door.

"Yes, ma'am," Cloud grumbled, careful not to expose his back to the Turks as he edged past them.

_socsocsocsoc_

Rufus Shinra, though young to hold a position of power, was considered by his employees to be unshakeable. Two years of holding together and rebuilding a crumbling business empire had mellowed him from the fiery and arrogant kid he had been into the calm and collected president he had become. Rufus remembered his first meeting with Cloud (who had immediately looked familiar) and his band of merry environmental activists, how they had been disgusted by the way Rufus claimed his father's vacated position before the old man's body was cold. They couldn't have known how frustrating it had been to grow up smarter than the elder Shinra, eager to prove himself, and always looked down on as a spoiled boy whose only asset was his name. Rufus had cared for his father, just not enough to mourn his death.

Rufus's first goal was to rule the world through fear - admittedly a lofty aspiration for an untried leader barely out of his teens, but it had been sincere. So what had caused the dramatic change in young President Shinra? What had made him this fair-minded, peaceful figure determined to mend the wounded world? The Turks wondered this constantly, and often quietly debated the question amongst themselves. Reno insisted it had been the explosion following Sister Ray's attack on Weapon, and though he couldn't know it, he was absolutely right.

Rufus was not much of a fighter. He never had been, he had never needed to be. The ShinRa Guard had always taken the brunt of attacks, leaving Rufus free to concentrate on other matters at hand. The explosion had been the only time, therefore, that he had come so near to death that he could hear the voices of the Lifestream, the shadows of the past, calling out to him. His mother's voice crying, _Rufus, I had such hopes for you... _His father, urgently yelling, _Don't give Dr. Hojo any more funding!_

He had kept his mother's words with him while he recovered here in Healin, and in time realized what she had meant - she had wanted Rufus to be more than a frustrated shadow of his power-hungry father. But it was not even this understanding that made Rufus a changed man. It was what he saw beyond the Lifestream, beyond the barrier that separated life and death, matter and spirit, this world and another one.

For it was another world (or worlds) he saw, or otherwise perceived, in an instantaneous eternity of flashes. Rufus saw himself as a blurry, pixelated sort of figure, with orange hair and no mouth, on glass screens of varying size and type. He saw young people dressed up to resemble Cloud and the Ancient girl gathering together and bragging about levels and Chocobo stats. He saw young people like this scribbling imagined stories about Sephiroth impregnating Cloud and Reno working as a prostitute...which Rufus suspected was the way Reno managed to pay off all his gambling debts. Most disconcerting of all, Rufus glimpsed rooms full of technology Hojo and Gast had never dreamed of, where humanoid beings called up the images of people on screens and gave them life and history. He saw these cunning gods paint the sea and the land, and move himself and everyone he knew like puppets on strings, toward a destiny that was kept from their sight.

They must be gods, and the strange, mechanical world must be their realm, where the lives of men are created and sent forth for some purpose. Here, many worlds seem to touch at a single point, and the past and future were being manufactured on the many smooth glass screens. Rufus saw on one of them the devastation that would be caused by the destruction of Meteor, and when he came to, lying on a bed being dosed with potions, he promised himself that if the horror he witnessed did come to pass, he would do everything he could to make it right again. Whenever he lost sight of this goal, he would look out to the eastern horizon and imagine the world of the gods beyond it, and steel himself with the belief that they would forgive the sins of ShinRa if Rufus did enough to repair the damage the company had caused.

One way he planned to accomplish this was, of course, keeping Sephiroth contained. At first, after Sephiroth's imprisonment, there had been a great outcry from the general public, demanding he be executed as a war criminal. It had taken time and the rather unwilling testimony of Cloud to explain how difficult, perhaps impossible, it would be to kill this particular prisoner. Both the press conference and the discussion came to a memorable end when Cloud yelled, "You want him dead? Get someone else!", Omnislashed Rufus's podium and stormed out. Reno, with his particular talent for summing up, had remarked, "It's always the pretty ones who are batshit crazy, huh, Boss?" Looking at Cloud and Sephiroth, it was hard to argue that.

With Hojo missing and presumed dead (thank Gaia), the ShinRa Science Department was all but defunct, but still, Rufus was determined to get some use out of Sephiroth, some justification for his incarceration. He had sent Dr. Kimura, ShinRa's resident psychiatrist, to try to probe Sephiroth's mind and get some insight into his behavior, but the doctor had emerged after only an hour, looking disturbed and grumbling that he could get nothing of use out of the caged Nightmare.

"Nothing, Doctor?" Rufus had asked, disappointed.

"Nothing fit for young ears to hear, certainly," Kimura had clarified, patting Rufus's head. He had known the president as a small child, and would not explain any further.

Rufus had gone himself, naturally, and Sephiroth had been strangely courteous to him. But beyond "Good day" and "How are you?", Sephiroth would say nothing but vague threats and requests for Cloud. When asked about the clones, Sephiroth would only laugh, which was creepy in itself. Before Rufus had left, he was offered one of Sephiroth's drawings, which he politely accepted. It was of Cloud making a rather imaginative use of Masamune, and Rufus planned to keep it for the next time he needed to bribe Reno.

Truthfully, Rufus had not liked asking Cloud to visit Sephiroth - it was risky to Cloud's mental health, and it wouldn't be a good thing to have Cloud out of commission when there was fighting that needed to be done. As much as Cloud hated ShinRa, it and he had lately found themselves on the same side. But it was imperative they learn what the clones were plotting, and Sephiroth would talk to no one else. The uncertainty of it all weighed heavily on the young president's mind.

Not quite so heavily, though, as his memory of the gods. They were not Gaia, not Jenova, not the Cetra, nothing like the Summon Monsters; but ever since that near-fatal glimpse, Rufus would swear he could sense their hands moving the people of this world like pieces on a chessboard. Were they kind? Were they just? Did they care for their people, or only for the story they were endeavoring to tell?

Rufus maneuvered his chair to the window that faced the east, and bowed in the direction of SquareEnix.

_socsocsocsoc_

In the two years since Aerith's death, not a day had gone by that Cloud had not remembered her with fondness and guilt. He often thought of the sense of peace she seemed to bring with her everywhere she went, her unfailing hope, the way she used to look at Cloud as if she could see inside of him and saw only goodness. It was easy, now, to see why Zack had liked her. Aerith seemed able to bring out the innocence in people and smooth away the faults. Even a battle-hardened fighter like Zack could forget war and pain in her presence.

Cait Sith had said once that Cloud and Aerith were perfectly compatible, destined for a blissful relationship. Had she only lived, Cloud thought it might have perhaps turned out that way. Maybe he could have given Aerith what he could not make himself feel for Tifa. She had seemed to have feelings for him, and Cloud had begun to like her...and Sephiroth, as he smiled at Cloud over Aerith's dying body, had realized this. Sephiroth could not have known that killing Aerith only strengthened the hold she had on Cloud. Alive she had been a potential girlfriend; dead, she had become a saint, a symbol all at once of Cloud's failings, responsibilities and the pure part of himself he had thought lost forever.

"Love" was a word Cloud did not use - the power of it frightened him. It was not a word he could toss off as often as "Hello" and "Goodbye", as Yuffie did, and not one he could say easily _and _sincerely, as Zack had. Cloud could only hope that his friends knew he did love them, and that he avoided them only for fear of hurting anyone else. And he loved Aerith too, though not the way Cait Sith had prophecied. Her appearances kept him going on days when nothing else could...though she didn't always have the best timing.

_Cloud..._

Her voice broke the silence of the Sleeping Forest so suddenly that Cloud nearly crashed Fenrir into a tree. Fortunately, his enhanced reflexes allowed him to pull the bike over in a safer spot before the white flash came, and he found himself in a field of flowers that seemed to be made of light. He could feel Aerith standing behind him, and she laughed nervously.

_Sorry about that._

"It's okay..."

_It's a good sign that you came when I called. Even though you're about to break, aren't you? So...why did you come?_

"I think...I want to be - "

_Groped!_ a mischievous voice rang out, and a hand that was definitely not female clamped securely onto Cloud's behind, squeezing one of the cheeks.

Cloud broke free and turned around, and his eyes teared up instantly to see Zack grinning at him. Aerith was a few feet away, having been pushed aside, and looking ruffled. Zack looked closely at Cloud's eyes and made a clucking noise, stepping forward to gather the boy into his arms.

_None of that, Spiky. Your eyes are even prettier when you cry and it's far too tempting._

Cloud wanted to pull away and run, it hurt too much to know that this was an illusion, that Zack was gone...but he couldn't bear to refuse this. He hid his face against Zack's shirt and wept quietly.

_I really am here, kiddo. Just in a different form. I won't give up this life and rejoin the Lifestream until Seph is stopped and I know you'll be okay._

"I'm sorry, Zack, I'm so sorry," Cloud whispered.

_I'm not. I got to save you _and _die like a hero. I hated having to leave you and Aerith, but that's the only thing I regret. You're gonna live for both of us, remember?_

_Hellooo? _Aerith put her hands on her hips and pouted. _Does anyone care that I'm here?_

_Just give me a minute with him, okay? _Zack drew back a little and took Cloud's face into his hands, resting his forehead against Cloud's. _You really dodged a bullet, Spiky. It could be you stuck listening to her whining instead of me._

_Hey!_

Cloud laughed through his tears, and Zack smiled. _You've got to go back, Spiky. People are counting on you._

"I hate that. _You _should have lived...you were good at taking care of people," Cloud murmured, grabbing hold of Zack for a last hug before the vision could end.

_You're good at that, too...just look how strong you've become. I knew you would._

"Zack..."

Zack squeezed him as the flower field and white sky began to fade. His hand slid below Cloud's back and brushed up and down over the seat of his pants, but the touch was oddly comforting. In an instant, the Sleeping Forest had returned, and Cloud was seated on Fenrir, struggling not to cry at the sudden emptiness he felt. A look of stern determination crossed his face at last, and he began to speed through the trees once more.

_Zack's right, they're counting on me. I have to save Marlene...and the other one._

_socsocsocsoc_

As far as Marlene was concerned, Cloud couldn't arrive too soon. She knew he would come, because Daddy said Cloud was the best fighter he knew and that he knew he could trust Cloud with his daughter, no matter what Tifa said. Cloud was also Marlene's favorite honorary uncle, even though he wasn't around often and didn't talk much. Uncle Vincent's stories were always full of monsters and sad people, and Uncle Cid didn't pay much attention to Marlene at all, except to say, "Talk to me again when you get some hooters, kid." Uncle Cloud had hit him for that. Marlene thought she might like Cait Sith more than Cloud, but Cait Sith was a kitty and kitties couldn't be uncles - at least Marlene didn't think so.

The men with silver hair said Cloud was their brother, but Marlene wouldn't believe them, because that would make them also her uncles and she didn't like them at all. Besides, they were mean, and they were probably only saying that about Cloud to be meaner...even if their eyes _were _bright and sparkly like Uncle Cloud's. Also, when Denzel came to live with them and Marlene was happy to finally have a brother, she had asked Cloud if he had brothers or sisters, and he had said no.

"Cloud is my uncle, not your brother," Marlene said angrily to Loz and Yazoo. "You can't have him."

"Oh, but we will," Yazoo said, smiling in a way Marlene didn't like. "Well, Sephiroth will."

He and Loz laughed. Marlene was worried now. She had heard Daddy and his friends mention someone named Sephiroth a few times, and they made it sound like he was very bad. But -

"Sephiroth is in jail," she said triumphantly. "My daddy said so."

"As if bars could contain Great Sephiroth," Yazoo sighed, shaking his head. "He will come to us when we prove ourselves worthy. Loz, I don't think what Kadaj is doing is the way."

"Do you have a better idea?" Loz asked with a deep, unintelligent voice.

"No, but - "

"I want to go home!" Marlene interrupted, stomping her little feet. "I don't like you and I don't like Kadaj!"

"Little girl, think of it this way," Yazoo said, rolling his eyes. "It could be worse. You could be related to him."

"We just want to be with Mother and Sephiroth," Loz said. "_This _was all Kadaj's idea."

"And we don't have the heart - "

"Or balls."

" - or balls to tell him it's unlikely to work," Yazoo finished. "But you know Kadaj, Loz, if he's going to do anything - "

"He's got to have an audience."

Kadaj emerged just then, dramatically, from the nearest building, a sort of squat white hut, wearing his 58th change of clothes. This time it was a slinky silver evening gown, high heels of the same color and a tiara adorned with jeweled flowers.

"Well, what do you think?" he cried in a giggly voice.

The other children, Denzel included, had long ago lost interest in the bizarre fashion show, and were now cheerfully playing in the nearby pool of strangely shimmering water. Kadaj turned from them in a huff and came to stand near his brothers.

"Well?"

"It is the best so far," Yazoo admitted.

"I liked the yellow sundress," said Loz.

"What do you think, girl?"

"You're a boy. Boys aren't supposed to wear dresses."

Truthfully, Marlene thought it looked quite pretty, but she didn't want to say anything nice to the mean man. She had asked Daddy once if boys could be pretty. Daddy had looked over at Uncle Cloud and quietly said, "Yeah, they can be, but they usually ain't happy about it." Marlene understood. She had heard a lot of people call Uncle Cloud pretty, and he never seemed to like hearing it.

Upon hearing Marlene's blunt response, Kadaj's chin quivered, and he quickly turned away and began rapidly fanning himself with both hands, saying, "Find your happy place, Kadaj, find your happy place..."

Once he had collected himself, he turned to face them again and crossed his arms defiantly. "Maybe if I hurt one of the other children, you'll be more polite, hmm?"

"Okay, okay!" Marlene wailed. "It looks pretty. Can we go home now?"

"Ha, I knew it!"

"Kadaj, why do we need the children here?" Yazoo asked. "They're not Mother's."

"Because children are more honest. Thanks to the girl, I've decided. This style of gown it is...don't you think it's flattering to my figure?"

"I think we should ask Great Sephiroth before you go any further with this plan," Yazoo said earnestly. "We don't know if he approves."

"If he doesn't, he can come and tell me so," Kadaj sniffed. "He should have come to us long ago...but when I reach my goal, he won't be able to ignore me any longer!"

"So can I go home now?" Marlene asked again.

"I still have one more outfit to show you," Kadaj sang, skipping back to the hut he had adopted as a dressing room.

"Why is he doing this?" Marlene asked the remaining two, sadly. "What is he trying to do?"

Yazoo shuddered. "Believe me, little girl, you don't want to know. If my mako-enhanced body would allow it, I would cast a permanent Confusion on myself to forget about it."

Loz nodded. "I tried banging my head against the wall."

"But all that did was make him dimmer than before, and we didn't think that was possible."

Marlene didn't quite know what to say, so she repeated what she had learned from the adults in her life. "Mako is bad. Extracting it hurt the planet."

"It isn't good for people either," Yazoo said quietly.

"Don't say that, brother. We are superior to them," Loz argued.

"Loz, look at us. We dress alike, stalk Cloud and worship Sephiroth. We're - "

"Fanboys," an annoyed voice said from behind them. Marlene and the clones turned to see Cloud dismounting Fenrir and standing in quite a heroic pose.

"Cloud!"

"It's okay, Marlene, I'm gonna take you home."

Kadaj chose that moment to stumble out of the white hut and point his sword violently in Cloud's direction. Strangely, he smiled with obvious pleasure.

"You came, brother. I'm surprised we didn't hear you."

"Perhaps because your dress is so loud."

Yazoo snickered. True, the final selection in Kadaj's fashion show was a truly hideous minidress, bright violet with turquoise and yellow flowers. Yellow high heels and a violet hair ribbon served to further undercut the young clone's menace.

Kadaj's eyes narrowed and he growled softly, but he reminded himself to find his happy place and took a deep breath.

"Your opinion is noted, brother."

"Don't call me that."

"But it is what we are. Mother's children, destined to aid her and Great Sephiroth in conquering the world. Join us, and be among your own kind at last."

"No thanks. I'm emo, not insane."

A familiar madness, one Cloud remembered seeing in Sephiroth, rose up in Kadaj's eyes. "Get him!" he shrieked.

"What, you're not going to help?" Yazoo grumbled.

"Of course not."

"Because, as the leader of our gang, you can't fight the protagonist until the climax, otherwise the dramatic tension would be thwarted?"

"No, because I can barely walk in these heels!"

"Fine, fine."

"Not man enough to fight me yourself?" Cloud taunted.

Kadaj smiled at him regretfully. "I am. That is precisely the problem."

Yazoo and Loz shoved Marlene aside and sprang at Cloud, Yazoo with a short gunblade and Loz with what looked like a wrist-mounted Super Soaker. Cloud had unsheathed the Ultima Weapon, however, and was ready for them. The battle was fast-paced and a terrific demonstration of skill, frequently ascending into the high branches of the strange white trees. Cloud was a better fighter but distracted, and Loz and Yazoo were two but trying to subdue Cloud without damaging him, so the fight was a close one, but Cloud seemed to be winning.

Marlene and the remaining clone watched with interest from the ground, Marlene breathlessly clapping her hands for Cloud.

"Um, Mr. Kadaj? What happened to gravity?"

Kadaj looked down from the airborne battle to regard her with disdain. "Ha. Gravity is for Nintendo players."

Cloud chose that moment - if one _can _choose these things - to fall in a near-unconscious heap onto the hard ground. He heard a familiar voice remark, "Well, there goes the product placement," and then all went black.

_socsocsocsoc_

He woke to the sight of the white, softly luminescent tree branches overhead and the sound of silence all around. There was rarely ever any wind in the Sleeping Forest, yet he could remember a blood-red cape whipping through the air...

"Vincent," he said by way of greeting. "Thank you."

"I come here often. I've seen what Kadaj is doing."

"Terrifying, isn't it?"

"Even to a monster such as I."

Cloud sat up slowly, noting that he had taken no injury of any consequence. Vincent was leaning statue-still against a large tree close by, his face half-concealed behind a red muffler.

"Do you know _why _he's doing it? What he's trying to accomplish?"

"Alas, no. My mind is occupied by the past and leaves little space for the present. I walk in darkness, for she took the light with her when she passed from this world."

Cloud resisted the impulse to roll his eyes. "Her name wasn't Annabel Lee, was it?"

"No, she was Lucrecia, though I do not willingly profane her sacred name with my unworthy tongue."

"Uh, right."

A rustle in the tall bushes drew their attention, and Cloud prepared himself for a rematch. It was only Marlene, however, who crashed through the brush and threw herself into Cloud's arms.

"Marlene!"

"Cloud! I don't like that man! He kept putting on dresses and asking us how he looked."

Cloud briefly considering relating to her the tale of his own foray into drag, then decided that Tifa probably wouldn't approve. It was surprising that Marlene didn't know of it already, as Cid was so fond of hearing the story over and over. And over.

"It's okay now, Marlene."

"But Tifa! One of the men hurt Tifa - "

"Tifa is fine, I promise."

"I want to talk to her!"

Cloud reached automatically for his PHS, but the spot it always occupied on his belt was empty.

"It fell into the water when you were knocked unconscious," Vincent informed him gravely.

"Uncle Vincent, do you have a phone I could use?"

"I fear not, little one. I seldom have need to speak to the living."

"Vincent," Cloud began, "could you take Marlene to Tifa? I need to talk to Rufus, and by 'talk to' I mean Omnislash."

"Cloud, I'm brooding here."

_Damn it, the one person I can't bribe with a grope._

"You're _always _brooding. Can't you take a break?"

"There is no escape from the great void in my heart, no reprieve from the darkness that is my just reward."

"Forget it, Cloud!" Marlene shouted, looking up at him with a hurt expression. "Why don't you ever pay any attention to _us_?"

She ran to Vincent and hid under his fluttering cape. Vincent seemed to accept this with resignation, as he did everything.

"Marlene, please. Tifa is in one of her inspirational-friendship-speech moods and I don't think I can handle another one just yet. Anyway, the theme is supposed to be life, or maybe death, or possibly something environmental. But not friendship. Understand?"

"No, I don't!"

"Cloud," Vincent said quietly, "are you sure it's _Tifa_ you don't want to talk to?"

Cloud looked away, realizing that Vincent was right.

_"You are only...a puppet...Bring me the Black Materia, my puppet...Kill the Cetra girl..."_

"Cloud, you were confused then. You didn't know who you were. You know now. You are strong. You belong to no one."

"Except us!" Marlene chimed in from beneath the red cape.

Cloud smiled very slightly at Vincent. "Is that the theme, then? Belonging to no one but ourselves?"

Vincent looked meaningfully at his metal claw, and at Cloud's mako-bright eyes. "Perhaps it should be."

"Okay, okay. Marlene, let's go."

With a cheerful shout, the six-year-old ran to Cloud and grabbed his hand. She tugged at it until he bent down, and whispered in his ear, "Cloud, I like Uncle Vincent, but his cape doesn't smell good."

Straightening up, Cloud said, "Hey, Vincent, is that cape...you know...washable?"

"I've never tried," he said simply, and vanished in a whirl of red.

Cloud raised his eyebrows at Marlene, who giggled.

"Cloud, the bad men were talking about Sephiroth. Are you gonna have to fight him again?"

Frowning, Cloud made her repeat everything the clones had said.

"What does it mean, Cloud? Are they gonna do more bad things?"

"I don't know yet."

"Are you gonna find out?"

"Yes," Cloud said with a sigh. "As soon as I get you home, I will find out. Don't worry."

He began to walk, but they had only gone a few steps when Marlene tugged at him again, urgently this time.

"Oh no! Denzel! What about Denzel?"

Cloud considered his response carefully. He was genuinely very fond of Marlene; he had been since the beginning of their acquaintance, when he had given her a flower and she had called him stupid for not realizing Aerith liked him. How, now, to set her mind at ease?

"Fuck Denzel," Cloud said at last. "He's only a noob."

And Tifa said he wasn't good with kids.

**End of Chapter 1**

_A noob is "aka-noobie (newbie). Someone who is new to a game, or website, online game, or something."_

To be continued!


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you so much to AyakoAki, Ardwynna Morriqu and Stoic-Genius for the reviews, they mean so much to me. Fair warning - from here on, it gets dark and perverted at times, which suits me, but I thought I should give you a heads-up. :)

**  
THE SILENCE OF THE CHOCOBOS  
**_Chapter 2_

Rufus had not slept well the previous night. His worries had kept him awake, or it might have been the moaning and spanking noises coming from the next room. ShinRa's military branches were supposed to adhere to the policy of "don't ask, don't tell", but sometimes such things were obvious, like when these particular Turks were next door. As Reno himself liked to say, his hair wasn't the only flaming thing about him.

When Reno and Rude went out later that morning, Rufus took the opportunity to grab a quick nap. Robe and hood still in place, he stretched out on the bed and turned away from the bright window. The first dream was a series of short, harmless memories from his teenage years, which he had spent strutting around the ShinRa Compound in Midgar like he owned the place. It was from there that he remembered Cloud. They had never talked or been introduced, but Rufus recalled very well the blond cadet that Lieutenant Fair used to drag around with him like a cherished pet. Sometimes Sephiroth had been with them, always watching Cloud with an expression unlike his usual passive, stony stare. Was that it, Rufus wondered, was he worried about Cloud seeing Sephiroth again?

_Cloud can take care of himself_, Rufus reminded himself. _He's wiped the floor with my best Turks often enough._

A convincing argument, but the uneasiness remained. And though he didn't want to admit it, Rufus knew why.

The dream had come again last night, the dream of the gods and their world of machines and glass. This time Rufus had seen places he didn't recognize. A stadium of some sort. A beautiful building that could lift off the ground and fly like an airship. Two teenagers battling each other viciously with gunblades. A lovely young woman dancing on the surface of water that reflected a sunset.

Were these other worlds and their inhabitants, life forms that had no connection to _this _world? It would seem so, and yet...why was there, in each, some sort of war or crisis involving magic, machines or the planet? Why was there always a Cid? Could it all be one story, with each world a single chapter? If so, what in Gaia's name was the continuing plot?

These were the questions that kept Rufus Shinra awake.

_socsocsocsoc_

"First of all, I need you to hand over all weapons and objects that could be used as weapons."

Feeling impatient already, Cloud unsheathed the Ultima Weapon, spun it a few times and held it out to the man with the blue uniform and nametag that said "Barney". Barney? What the hell did that mean?

"Show-off," the guard grumbled. He grabbed the enormous weapon from the fragile-looking young visitor, wondering why a kid would need such a thing...and was immediately pulled over by the sword's weight.

Cloud smiled down at him innocently. The same thing had happened the first time Cloud had held the Buster Sword...how Zack had laughed...

Blushing furiously and muttering to himself, Barney struggled to his feet and heaved the sword onto a table. Once he had caught his breath, he turned back to the smirking young man and glared.

"Is that all?"

Cloud gave him a look that clearly said, _You think I need anything more?_

"Any Materia? Items?"

The blond produced three Hi-Potions and an X-Potion and handed them over.

"You know, you look familiar."

Cloud shrugged, but secretly he was irked. He hadn't realized how much he liked anonymity until he had lost it. To think he had once dreamed of being famous, like Sephiroth...Cloud was reminded of the point of this excursion, and frowned.

"I.D., please. Seriously, I know you, I'm just awful with faces. Are you a model?"

Cloud was sincerely regretting handing over his sword. He pulled out his motorcycle license and slapped it into the guard's waiting hand.

"Cloud Strife? _The _Cloud Strife? Man, I can't believe it! You're the guy who put him in here! And saved us from Meteor!"

"It wasn't just me." _And I couldn't have captured Sephiroth if he hadn't gone willingly_, he thought, though he didn't say it.

"Man, I touched Cloud Strife's sword! No one'll believe this!"

Cloud's hands, concealed in black leather gloves, clenched into fists. Zack was giggling, wherever he was.

_Oh, shut up._

_Hey, Spiky, I'd be excited too if you let me touch your sword._

"Is there anything else?"

"Oh, um...just sign here, sir, and I'll take you back."

After calling another guard to watch the front desk, Barney gestured for Cloud to follow and led him through a series of hallways. Much of the building had been repaired and was unrecognizable as the old ShinRa headquarters, but here and there were signs of the explosion two years ago. Worse than that, it was the first time Cloud had been here since his memory had begun to clear, and here were the same hallways Zack had once dragged him through, there the elevator they had used so many times to visit Sephiroth. How had it all come to this?

"Sir?"

"Huh? Sorry, what did you say?"

"I said, this your first time visiting him, right?"

"Yeah." _Behind bars, at least._

"I've gotta tell you the rules, then. Do not step over the red line on the floor. If you need to pass him papers or anything, or he needs to pass you something, use the sliding box at the front of the cell. He can show you how. You're not to give him anything but soft-edged paper. I put out a chair for you. Got all that?"

"Yes, thank you."

"We're nearly there."

They approached a heavy metal door. Barney took a ring of keys from his belt and began to work the three large locks. Then, with some effort, Barney slowly pushed the door open.

_Is that you, Puppet?_

Cloud froze, and the blood drained from his already pale face. He had not heard that voice in his mind for two years.

"You okay, kid? You want me to come in with you?"

His annoyance at being treated like a teenager just because he looked like one brought Cloud back to himself. He took a quiet breath and attempted one of his casual shrugs.

"I'm fine. Thank you."

"He's at the very end, last cell on the left."

Cloud nodded and stepped inside, but a large hand very like Barret's grabbed his wrist at the last moment. Barney's hopeful expression withered under the blond's glare; he realized now that the young hero did not like to be touched.

"Sorry, sir, I just wanted to ask...is it true you were a First Class SOLDIER?"

To Barney's relief and puzzlement, the anger faded into a look of sadness.

"In my head."

Cloud shook off the loose grip and began to walk, swallowing nervously as he heard the door lock behind him. The hallway seemed longer than it was, eerily quiet and full of stark, cold light that reminded Cloud unpleasantly of Hojo's lab. There were five good-sized cells on each side, made not of bars but of some kind of thick glass which, Cloud guessed, must be unbreakable, and each had a sliding box and a waist-high square door through which food and larger objects could be passed. These doors did not have locks, but could only be opened from the outside.

Cloud was unsurprised to see the majority of the cells empty, as he had not heard of any other prisoners...but there was one, in the fourth cell on the left, a strange-looking man with blue hair and odd markings on his face. Cloud turned to face the cell when he realized the man was staring at him.

"If I were free," the prisoner said calmly, "I would have to fight you."

"Really," said Cloud. "And why is that?"

"Because with an ass that fine, you must be Sin."

"Now, now," a cold, familiar voice admonished, "play nice with my guest, Seymour."

Cloud's feet moved without instructions from his brain, taking him to the next cell and turning him to face his old nightmare.

The cell was a startling contrast to the empty ones. For furniture it had only the essentials - a bed, a desk and chair, a sink and a toilet - but there was also a bookshelf crammed full, and nearly every inch of the glass walls was covered with sketches. Most of them involved himself, Cloud noticed with disgust, nude and in what looked like very uncomfortable positions. But his eyes passed over all this in a microsecond. What really drew his attention was the man himself.

Sephiroth looked exactly the same as he had at their last meeting. Like Cloud, Sephiroth's aging process had been slowed to a crawl by Hojo's experiments. Also, this prison apparently didn't require uniforms; the prisoner's clothes were the kind that Sephiroth had always preferred. All that was missing was the famous Masamune...he looked strange without it, though no less dangerous.

Sephiroth was smiling at him, in a way that implied a shared secret. "Not going to say hello, Puppet?"

"Don't call me that." Cloud nearly winced at how weak his voice sounded.

"You have bigger problems than dislike of a pet name, Puppet, or you wouldn't be here. Have you met Seymour, my friend in the next cell?"

The blue-haired man seemed to be absorbed in his own thoughts and was ignoring them, though he occasionally looked at Cloud.

"Seymour is a useful case study on the subject on conflict."

"Sephiroth, I'm here because - "

"Seymour is merely passing through, I'm afraid, a temporary transfer until his own prison is ready for him. He mentioned something called Sin to you, I believe?"

"Yes. What is that?"

Sephiroth made a dismissive gesture. "Seymour can't make up his mind whether he wants to fight Sin or become it himself. Similarly, when first brought here, Seymour was professing a rather obsessive devotion to a young lady he calls Yuna and expressed disapproval when I informed him that my own tastes are confined to my own gender. Yet since you walked in here, he has been watching you as a Bandersnatch eyes a fresh piece of meat. What does this tell us?"

"He's bi?"

Sephiroth rolled his silvery eyes. "No, that is incidental! He is conflicted. And why is he conflicted?"

"Sephiroth, I need to ask you - "

"He is conflicted because conflict is in his very nature. Conflict formed the very heart of him. You see, Seymour is the offspring of a Guado father and a human mother - races that each hold the other to be inferior. Seymour was out of place and alone among both, truly belonging to neither, belonging nowhere. Small wonder he sought power. What else did he have?"

"So, what, whatever he did is society's fault?" Cloud scoffed.

"Not quite, Puppet. Seymour's personal conflict is the result of his own nature, and where did that come from? His parents, of course. You might notice that Seymour physically takes after his father, but should you converse with him, as I have, you will discover a much stronger emotional attachment to the mother. No doubt young Seymour wished to be more like her, and this only intensified the conflict in his mixed blood. You should never underestimate the holds our mothers keep on us, Puppet."

Sephiroth looked at him meaningfully, and a terrible fury ignited Cloud's blood and set a fire in his mind. It was like the heat of the flames that had engulfed Nibelheim, that had killed his mother, and there the killer stood, smiling at him. Cloud wanted to hurt him, and he knew how to do it.

"Jenova was not your mother. Has anyone told you? Vincent was there when the Jenova Project began, he could tell you."

"Be very careful, Puppet."

The low, cold voice was like acid, and the gaze that Sephiroth had fixed on him was one that, once, would have made Cloud collapse in a dead faint.

"Her name was Dr. Lucrecia Crescent. And Hojo was your father, he told us that before we - "

Time seemed to stop or skip forward, and the next thing Cloud knew, he was on his knees in front of the open glass door. Something was in his mouth, and something hot was pouring out of it, and Sephiroth's hand was touching his hair.

Cloud gagged and sprang to his feet, spitting the sticky fluid out and vomiting on top of it. As he recovered, he looked with rage and horror at the prisoner, who was laughing as he refastened his pants and pulled the glass door shut.

"The look on your face, Puppet, how priceless it is! Don't worry about that." He gestured to the mess on the floor. "Barney will clean it up."

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!"

"It was merely the most satisfying means of reminding you of two essential truths. First, you are my puppet and I can do anything I like with you. And second, there are consequences for angering me. Why such a look of fear, Puppet? You thought I couldn't control you anymore?"

Shaking, Cloud turned without another word and walked quickly to the heavy metal door. Barney opened it for him.

"Everything okay?"

"Come back soon, Puppet! Thank you for the drink!" Sephiroth called, finishing with a laugh that no sane person is capable of.

Barney looked at him questioningly, but Cloud was gone before he could speak, stopping only to retrieve his sword and potions.

_socsocsocsoc_

"What do you mean, he got a degree in psychology?!"

Had Rufus Shinra been anything less than Xanax personified, he would have winced or possibly run away from the angry voice, and the owner of it, who was armed with a very large sword. As it is, the president smiled calmly.

"The prison has a program that allows inmates to take correspondence courses through Midgar U. You know, it gives them a chance to better themselves."

"So you thought nothing of allowing a mind-game-playing psychopath to study _psychology_."

"Admittedly, we should've taken into consideration Sephiroth's superior intelligence. I believe he made the Dean's List."

Frustrated and furious, Cloud aimed a powerful kick at the door, leaving a dent behind. Rufus frowned.

"You know, if you keep that up, they're going to charge me for it."

"You could've at least _warned _me, Shinra!" Cloud yelled. "All that about how you knew Sephiroth is psychologically dangerous, and you said nothing about him studying how to be more _effectively_ dangerous. All that about how Sephiroth can't make me do things anymore, and - "

Cloud stopped abruptly. The flush in his cheeks gave way to his usual paleness, and he turned away from the presiden't penetrating stare.

"Did something happen, Strife? _Can _he still manipulate you?"

"No. I just...I would've been better prepared to get information from him if you had told me about this."

"Strife, what happened?"

Cloud crossed his arms and stared Rufus down defiantly.

"Fine. But I have many sources, you know. I will find out. I should relieve you of your assignment now - "

"Oh, no," Cloud growled. "It's personal now. I _will _find out what he's up to and stop him."

"I hope so," Rufus said. "But if I find out Sephiroth _can _still manipulate you, I will have to consider you a liability, Strife, and bar you from seeing him at all."

"Did you say 'bar'?"

"Yes, why?"

"That's a good idea," Cloud muttered, slamming the battered door on his way out.

_socsocsocsoc_

Yet another unintentional added to the list of Cloud's life - he had not intended to end up at Seventh Heaven. There were several other bars in Edge, and he tried them all, only to be met with the same problem that had plagued him all through the Meteor crisis.

During the quest to stop Sephiroth, the party had stopped in many towns and talked to roughly the entire population of each...more than once, despite the odd tendency people had to repeat themselves. In each town, there was a bar, and a bartender who would offer information and brag about his brew or suggest Cloud stop for a drink...

And then go completely deaf and absolutely refuse to serve him. All over the known world, they had traveled, and nowhere was Cloud able to get a goddamn drink.

None of the other adventurers had the heart to tell Cloud that it was probably because he still looked sixteen, though the thought had occurred to Cloud himself. Damn Hojo and his beakers full of glowing goop.

After Aerith's death, Cloud had found himself in the small tavern in Cosmo Canyon, threatening to Bolt3 the citizenry unless he was given alcohol _now_, and the others had understood and taken pity on their damaged leader. Vincent had transformed into his weirdo Frankenstein's Monster Limit Break to distract the bartender, and Cid had swiped a few bottles of expensive wine from behind the counter. They had all taken it out to the communal fire and gotten dangerously wasted, leaving Vincentstein behind to smash crockery until he could regain control of himself.

The whole thing hadn't been a good idea, as it turned out. Cid still marked the day on his calendar as the only time he successfully got his hand down Cloud's pants, even if it was only to retrieve the keys to the Highwind he'd "accidentally" dropped. Barret was revealed to be an awkwardly sentimental drunk and wouldn't shut up about how he loved "all you little crackers so fuckin' much, even that weird little bastard who floats around his fuckin' planetarium". Of course, Barret expressed this in Japanese, and it loses something in the translation.

Still, that blurry night had at least given Cloud a respite from terrible memories and Sephiroth's taunting voice. He supposed he was looking for the same break now. Thank Gaia Tifa was upstairs putting Marlene to bed, or she would be giving a lecture about the dangers of stuffing down one's emotions with alcohol. Pretty hypocritical for someone who owns a bar.

"What does Tifa know anyway?" Cloud muttered at Otto, the assistant bartender, who stood by patiently. "The theme is _not_ friendship, dammit. And it's not facing your demons or accepting the past or any of that, it's just..._life_. Life, you know?"

"Doesn't life include those things?"

"Just get me another Cactuar Island Ice Tea, Otto. Otto. What the hell does _that_ mean? Are we just not following the name rules anymore?"

_I'm not sure there ever _were _rules, Spiky. After all, what does _my_ name mean?_

"It means you should go away, Zack," Cloud mumbled into his glass. "Can't you see I'm trying to repress?"

_It's not healthy. You'll regret it later. You're a master at regretting, remember? Don't give yourself more to feel bad about. You don't deserve it._

"What the hell do _you_ know?" Cloud said sadly. "You're dead."

Otto slowly slid the drink across the counter to Cloud, eyebrows raised nearly high enough to meet his hairline. He knew Strife was an odd guy, but this was a symptom he had never observed before. Cloud grabbed the filled glass and began to drain it with alarming speed. When he was about half-finished, the young hero jumped suddenly and spit a mouthful of alcohol onto the bar.

"Fuck, Zack, if you don't stop grabbing me like that, I swear I'm gonna go die just so I can kick your ass!" Cloud jumped again, then groaned and rested his head in his hands. "Aerith, tell him to stop..."

Nervous smile plastered across his face, Otto side-stepped out from behind the bar and toward the back staircase.

_socsocsocsoc_

Tifa read the last lines of _The Littlest Grat_, Marlene's favorite book, and put it down on the nightstand. The six-year-old, tucked into bed and drowsy, was as always ready with questions.

"Tifa?"

"Yes?"

"Do you think Cloud is okay?"

_He won't be when I'm through with him_, Tifa thought, but she said, "Of course he is. You know Uncle Cloud. He just has a hard time sometimes."

"He's still sad about Aerith."

"That's right."

"I liked her," Marlene said mournfully. "I liked her flowers."

"Me too."

"Did she go to the Lifestream? Is it nice there?"

"It's very nice," Tifa said emphatically. "When you go to the Lifestream, you get to see all the people you love who have died."

"So when I go there, I'll see my mommy?" Marlene smiled.

"Yes. Your mommy, and Aerith, and anyone else you miss."

"Tifa?"

Marlene looked anxious, and Tifa tensed. The child had no memory of Dyne and Eleanor, believing herself to truly be Barret's daughter, and they all lived in apprehension of the day when Marlene would ask why she so little resembled him. Somewhat cowardly, Tifa always hoped that the "Why am I not black?" question would come in Barret's presence, or Cloud's, or even Cid's - anyone's but hers.

"Tifa, do you think Denzel is okay?"

An easier question, but not by much.

"I'm sure he is. Cloud will find him and bring him home soon. Denzel is fine." Personally Tifa thought the boy had probably joined a street gang by now, but she couldn't very well say that to Marlene.

"The silver-haired men will take care of him?"

"Um, yes. Exactly."

There was an urgent knock at the door, and Otto peeked in with an expression of fear on his face.

"Um, Tifa? Cloud is being groped by invisible people."

Tifa rolled her eyes and groaned. "Not _again_."

_socsocsocsoc_

Cloud awoke to a fierce headache and a light so bright that he expected Aerith to appear out of it. It took several minutes of slow thought to realize it was only sunlight from the window, and that the headache was not a result of normal, everyday causes - banging his head against a wall, Tifa blaring her Gackt CDs, etc. - but rather the after-effect of alcohol. Mako was theoretically supposed to make you super-tolerant of such things, but a few years of knowing Zack had been enough to disillusion Cloud on that point. A couple of Midgaritas and Zack was _anyone's _for the night.

Speaking of night...where did the night go? Clearly, it was morning, but the last thing Cloud remembered was ordering Zack to stop grabbing him. Now he was somehow in his own bedroom, experiencing a feeling of déjà vu and the familiar sense of a Turk undressing him with his eyes.

"Rude?" he guessed.

"I can be, if that's your kink," Reno cackled.

"What are you doing here?"

"Tifa was worried you might vomit in your sleep and choke on it," Reno said, tapping his cattle prod-like weapon against his shoulder. "So we've been taking turns watching you."

"Uh, Cid hasn't been in here, has he?"

"No, why?"

"No reason."

"Uh-huh," Reno grinned. "I knew he was a man after my own heart."

"Where is Tifa?"

"Trying to convince Otto that the bar isn't haunted. I think you scared the guy last night."

"It's Zack's fault," Cloud grumbled. "I'm tired of being groped by dead people."

"Who isn't? You know, I could make you feel better..."

Cloud didn't seem to have heard him, or notice Reno approaching. "Can you stop the world, please? I want to get off."

"Heh, I think I can help ya there, Hot Stuff."

_socsocsocsoc_

"So...the bar isn't haunted. Just Strife."

"Yes."

"And you consider this...normal."

"Well, maybe not _normal_. Just...Cloud." Tifa shrugged. "He's been through a lot. I'm sure even I don't know a lot of it."

"But he's not dangerous, right?" Otto asked anxiously. "He's okay mentally, right?"

"Oh, yes! Yes, of course. Well...he used to have this weird telepathic connection with Sephiroth. And he didn't get into SOLDIER because he scored so low on the psych. evaluation. And there was that one time his mind fractured into separate personalities, and he and I did this awesome integration scene..."

Otto thought he was beginning to realize why no other bar in the world would serve Strife.

_socsocsocsoc_

"...and I know the theme isn't some bullshit, peer pressure, say-no-to-drinking thing. I mean, didn't we find you completely smashed a few times in those bars that wouldn't give me a fucking drink? Yeah, I remember. One time Yuffie walked into one of the bathrooms, and found you and Rude...you guys sure like bathrooms, don't you? She's still puzzling over how you managed to do that on a sink..."

"It's all about angles. There're certain places a faucet shouldn't go."

Cloud was still laying on the bed, drained by his hangover and covering his eyes with one hand to keep out the sun. Though normally quite reticent, post-intoxication Cloud seemed to have a penchant for babbling. It sounded eerily like Zack's manner of speech had been, and Reno would have wondered if this meant something, had all his focus not been on quietly getting closer to Cloud without being noticed.

"...and it can't be some ethical thing about heroes shouldn't drink alcohol, either. I was in a fucking _dress_, for crying out loud. I woke up in a strange bedroom and some guy gave me underwear as a memento. At times like that, you _need_ a drink."

"Or a camera." Reno carefully sat down on the bed, noting that Cloud remained unaware of his proximity. "Why are you obsessing about this theme shit?"

"I don't know...I need to figure out what the clones are up to, and Sephiroth won't tell me...he just goes on and on with his lunatic psycho-babble and said we should never underestimate the hold our mothers keep on us. He killed my mother."

Reno's hand, which had been hovering over Cloud's crotch, regretfully journeyed upward to stroke his hair. "Don't let him get to you, baby. At least you had a mom. All Sephiroth had was that fuckin' alien in an aquarium. Hey, wait a second..."

"What?" Cloud said tiredly.

"When Rude and I fought Kadaj's gang, they kept telling us they were looking for their mother. That's gotta be part of their plan. Maybe Sephiroth was trying to give you a clue."

The blond groaned. "Great. Now I have to see him again. Well, it can wait till the room stops spinning."

"Absolutely, you can't be on your guard until you're rested up." Reno continued to pet Cloud's hair, knowing the young hero would not have allowed it if he weren't so out of it. "Mmm, how does it stay so soft? Like the feathers of a little chocobo."

"They make a terrible sound when they die." Cloud's eyes were closed and his body relaxed, so Reno wasn't sure if he was awake or dreaming. "They still say 'Wark', but it's like a scream, almost human."

"Ssh." Reno's free hand, restless, purused its own goal. The skin of Strife's stomach was as white and soft as that of his face and every other part - bizarre for a legendary fighter. "Ain't no dying chocobos here."

"I hate them, I hate that noise, I hear it in my dreams. That noise and his voice, always," Cloud whispered, his chin quivering.

"You know what, Hot Stuff? You just need some better material for your dreams. I think I know just the thing."

Cloud, nearly asleep, was only vaguely aware of Reno's hand sliding past his stomach and slipping beneath the zipper. Zack saw a chance to redeem himself for last night's inappropriateness and yelled, as loud as he could, _Hey, you red-haired skunk! No one gropes him but me!_

Reno couldn't hear this, of course. But it was quite enough to wake up Cloud.

_socsocsocsoc_

Though still spooked, Otto was finally reassured enough to leave Tifa at the bar and go to the storage room to take inventory. Tifa breathed a sigh of relief (Otto would have been the fourth employee scared off by one of her friends) and began to wipe the counters down, thinking she should really relieve Reno's watch. Cloud would not be happy to know that a Turk had been allowed near him while he's sleeping.

"Tifa! Ohayou! Genki - ?" (1)

Tifa winced and resisted the impulse to cover her ears. "I'm fine, Barret. Use your indoor voice, okay? Cloud's still asleep."

Looking appropriately admonished, the huge man came in and took a seat at the bar. Vincent and Cid followed behind him and did the same. Tifa put a bottle of whiskey in front of Cid, as she had learned to do, and he grinned his thanks.

"How's the kid? He doin' all right?"

"I don't know, I hope so. Whatever happened with Sephiroth must have really upset him. The last thing Cloud needs is to wake up to the shouting of foreign languages."

"Nihonjin da!" (2)

"You're not Japanese, Barret. You're not even pseudo-Japanese like me."

"Long night, Tifa?" Vincent said politely.

"Yeah. If so many of my customers didn't come here primarily to stare at Cloud, his meltdowns would have scared them off long ago. I know Aerith and Zack are just trying to help him, but I wonder if their presence is making him worse. They're reminders of deaths that Cloud blames himself for."

"Kid ought to quit that," Cid said gruffly. "Wasn't his fault. And he's just keepin' himself hurtin'."

"I too am concerned for Cloud," Vincent said, staring intensely at the wall behind the bar. "I know what it is to carry the weight of the dead. It is a night without stars overhead, one that never ends."

Cid laughed and clapped Vincent's shoulder, which seemed to perplex Vincent. "You're all right, Valentine."

"I know Cloud's been worried ever since Sephiroth was locked up by ShinRa. It is suspicious, isn't it? Why hasn't he broken out?" she went on.

"He must have some purpose that we do not realize," Vincent said simply. "Was Cloud able to obtain any information?"

"He didn't really tell me," Tifa confessed. "He just ran in here with three bottles of mouthwash and locked himself in the upstairs bathroom."

"I know that feelin'," Cid said, pausing to take a long swig from his bottle. "Once I picked up this hot little number in Wall Market, tight miniskirt, legs that went on forever, sexy deep voice - the works! So we went over behind the Weapon Shop to get to know each other a little better, and I was workin' downstairs, you know what I mean? At first I thought she was bein' cute, you know, slippin' a sausage in my mouth when I wasn't lookin' - "

"Cid!" Tifa yelled, scandalized even though she was used to such stories from the pilot. Barret howled with laughter, and even Vincent cracked a tiny, amused smile.

"Well, you get the idea. Must have brushed my teeth ten or twelve times."

"And yet you think nothing of trying to bed Cloud," Vincent said thoughtfully.

"Ain't the same thing. Cloud is...Cloud. You know?"

"Yes. I imagine he would prefer not to be."

"Cid," Tifa broke in, "you don't mean...you don't think...Sephiroth might've - "

"Slipped the kid a sausage?" Cid laughed. "Why, 'cause it ain't a nice thing to do? The guy damn near destroyed the planet! And I s'pose even a laboratory freak like Sephiroth has the same needs other men do. No offense, Valentine."

"Try having only one working hand," Vincent said mournfully.

"If he did, I'll kill him myself," Tifa growled. "Cloud's been through too much. If Sephiroth is messing with him again - "

She didn't get a chance to finish her threat. A sudden and loud noise came from the second floor, like several huge crashes all in a row, powerful enough to shake the whole building. A moment of silence followed, and then the sound of boots stumbling down the stairs.

"Dare da ka?" Barret called. (3)

Reno came into the bar's main room, using the walls and furniture to prop himself up. He was bruised and barely conscious, looking like he might have just spent a week or so being tossed around by a tornado. The fresh wound in his stomach was approximately the width of a wide blade.

Luckily, Tifa was prepared for anything and always kept a few X-Potions beneath the bar. She grabbed one and put it to Reno's lips herself, and he drank it down.

"What happened?"

The Turk got to his feet and smiled uneasily. "Heh...uh...did you guys know Strife's got a new version of Omnislash?"

"Oh, Reno," Tifa said. "You didn't, did you? I warned you."

Cid slammed down the now empty whiskey bottle and stood up, wobbling a bit. "He's awake, then? C'mon, everybody, let's go see Cloud!"

"I wouldn't if I were you guys. He's, uh, a bit grumpy."

"Well, I'd be grumpy too," Tifa sniffed, "if I woke up with your hand down my pants."

"That's not exactly my fantasy either, you know."

"I wouldn't mind seein' it," said Cid. "So, we goin' to say hi to Cloud, or what?"

"No need."

They all looked up. Cloud was standing in the doorway that led to the stairs, awake and mostly recovered. There were bags under his eyes, but if anything, this level of weariness made him even more alluring. Even Reno, who had just endured a near-fatal ass-kicking and shrank back from Cloud's voice, couldn't help but lick his lips and look the young hero up and down.

"Kuraudo, hisashiburi da ne!" Barret thundered, clapping Cloud on the back and nearly crushing him with a hug. (4)

"Cloud, come sit down and have a Potion."

"I'm fine, Tifa."

"You look terrible, though."

"Good. Then maybe I'll be left alone."

Cloud glared at Reno, who laughed nervously and slunk toward the exit.

"I better get going...you know, Turk business. Did I mention they all know where I am, and would come looking if I didn't return?"

"You can go, Reno. Go, and tell that asshole boss of yours that I'll be seeing Sephiroth again today, and if this visit is anything like the last, Rufus will be needing more than a new door!"

Cloud's glowing eyes were crazed as he spoke, and the madness in their mako-bright depths reminded them all of someone, though no one dared point it out. Reno whimpered and hightailed it out of there, and Cloud sat on one of the nearby tables, his shoulders slumping. His eyes were calm again, back to their usual sadness.

"Are you sure it's a good idea, Cloud?" Tifa asked slowly. "Seeing him again?"

"He knows what's going on and he won't talk to anyone else. I have to."

"Hey, Cloud, settle a bet for us, would ya?" Cid slurred. Where he had gotten a second bottle of whiskey from is unclear, but it was already nearly empty. "Did Sephiroth slip ya a sausage?"

Cloud's entire face tightened and his eyes became round and wide; he looked even younger in the grip of this fear. Barret shoved Cid off his stool, hard, and the pilot hit the floor with a painful sound, but he merely curled up with his bottle and began snoring.

"Oh, Cloud - "

"Don't, Tifa. I don't know what he was talking about."

"...okay." She tried to sound convinced, and busied herself at the sink to hide her wet eyes. Tifa hated crying nearly as much as Cloud did but, like him, she couldn't help it sometimes.

Vincent studied Cloud intently, with a scarlet gaze that seemed to see straight through him. "Remember what I said, Cloud. To no one but yourself."

Cloud looked back at him, wanting to believe it, knowing he needed to. There was some sort of bond that linked together all those who had been damaged and altered by Hojo; like points in a spider web, each touched all the others, whether positively or negatively, whether directly or in less obvious ways. Even the frighteningly manic Kadaj, with his childish anger and willingness to hurt anyone, was not a creature that Cloud could wholly separate from himself.

If Cloud hated and feared the link that tied his mind to Sephiroth's, he was all the more appreciative of the understanding that existed between himself and Vincent. He nodded, checked to make sure the Ultima Weapon was in its sheath, and stood up.

"I've got to go. I'll see you all later."

He caught Tifa's eyes and reassured her with a smile, then headed out into the clear morning, cheered by the good wishes and confidence of his friends.

"Be safe, Cloud! We'll be here when you get back. We'll be waiting."

"It is easy to walk in darkness when you are burdened by the dead. Let the love of those who are alive carry you into the light."

"Ganbatte!" (5)

"Barret, get the hell out of my bar."

**  
End of Chapter 2**

_Translations:_

_(1) "Tifa! Good morning! How are - ?" (roughly)  
(2) "I'm Japanese!"  
(3) "Who is it?"  
(4) "Cloud, it's been a long time!"  
(5) "Good luck!"_

_I'm still a newbie to the language, so kindly forgive any mistakes._

To be continued!


	3. Chapter 3

Previous warnings apply; reviewer responses at the end. Without further ado...

**THE SILENCE OF THE CHOCOBOS  
**_Chapter 3_

Rufus groped for the pot and poured another cup of coffee, slowly to keep his hands from shaking too badly. Had his face been more visible beneath the gray hood, his half-closed eyes and haggard expression would have caused alarm among his faithful Turks. The president had risen before dawn, after only two hours of sleep, and restless ones at that. The dreams would give him no peace.

Rufus wondered if that other prisoner had anything to do with them. He had agreed to hold Seymour until his transfer as a favor for a friend of his late father's, a mysterious lone warrior called Auron, and to ask no questions about what the prisoner had done, where he came from or where he was going. Simple enough, but why had Seymour turned up in Rufus's latest dream? He had been fighting against Auron himself, and the young lady who had danced on the water, and a blond boy who didn't seem nearly emo enough to be the protagonist.

The rest was all flashes of different times and places. A ballroom dance floor full of teenagers. A substance called Magicite, and a creature referred to by the strange name of Esper. A race of fighters too tiny to make out facial features or even limbs, but who battled monsters that looked vaguely familiar. Could they be ancestors, and this some kind of distant past? Why were the gods forcing Rufus to see all this? Perhaps to make him more sympathetic to Cloud, who was also haunted?

At least Strife only had the ghosts of friends to contend with. Whole worlds were trying to make themselves known to President Shinra, and he was getting pretty damn tired of it.

"Well," he said to himself, as his head began to nod again, "at least the music is good."

_socsocsocsoc_

"No way. No way in Hades." Cloud glanced at the table of confiscated items and wondered if he should make a grab for his sword.

"Look, kid, I'm sorry. But I got to be sure you aren't sneaking anything in."

"I'm not! Why would I? I hate him!" Cloud nearly shouted.

"As you left last time, the prisoner thanked you 'for the drink'," Barney said patiently, in a tone you would use with an unruly child. "I've got to assume you snuck something to him. Unless there's another explanation?"

Cloud said nothing. There certainly was, but there was no way he was going to tell what Sephiroth had made him do.

"That's what I thought. Sorry, but either we do this my way or you don't see him. It's that simple."

There was really no choice at all. Looking around first to make sure they were alone, Cloud reluctantly stripped off his clothes piece by piece and handed them to Barney, who examined each article meticulously. Soon Cloud stood completely naked, feeling chilly and extremely irked, waiting to be handed back his clothes. His eyes went wide as the guard produced and put on a rubber glove. He knew what was about to happen; Cid had more than once tried to drag him into a prison-fantasy roleplay.

"Oh, no. No, uh-uh, you put that hand anywhere near me and you're gonna lose it."

_Damn straight_, Zack shouted. _I've got dibs!_

"Not now, Zack," Cloud whispered.

"Look, I'll get it done as quick as I can. I mean, unless you want me to take my time - " Barney just managed to leap out of the way in time as a chair hurled through the air toward him. "Fuck, it was a joke! I'm sorry!"

Valiantly, though he knew Cloud could probably kill him with a single finger, Barney refused to break the rules, even under threat of violence. Cloud (who had temporarily forgotten his nudity) insisted the guard call Rufus, confident that the president would order him to excuse the hero of Meteorfall this humiliating procedure. Agreeably enough, Barney turned his back to Cloud (though keeping the huge sword in sight) and spoke quietly into the phone for a few minutes. When he hung up and turned back, Cloud crossed his arms.

"Well?"

"I could only get ahold of one of the president's associates, Reno, I think his name was. He asked if we could please record the cavity search with one of the security cameras."

Groaning, accepting defeat, Cloud faced the nearest wall, leaned forward and spread his legs. To make matters worse, beneath Zack's angry grumbles, Cloud swore he could hear Aerith giggling.

_socsocsocsoc_

Kadaj had entered the Northern Cave with roughly the expression of a child being turned loose in a candy store. He could tell Mother was here, he could feel the pull of his own Jenova cells being drawn toward her. He imagined that proximity to Sephiroth would have a similar effect, though he sadly had never known Sephiroth.

_When I have succeeded, he will come, he has to..._

Kadaj closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on the reaction of his Jenova cells to this place, quiet but for the hollow sound of wind. He could imagine Mother's voice carried upon it, calling him, telling him which way to go...if not for his Gaia-damned brothers.

"It's cold," Loz said unhelpfully. "Is it cold because of the snow, or does snow only grow in cold places? I'm still cold. We should have kept our Black Rider robes."

"Are we even supposed to get cold?" Yazoo mused. "Doesn't the mako help with that?"

"Huh?"

"Well, Cloud wasn't cold when he was here, was he? Actually, I don't remember anyone saying they were cold. And Tifa was wearing a skirt, wasn't she?"

Loz grunted in the affirmative. "Vincent was the only one dressed warmly. Huh. Maybe what Dr. Hojo did makes cold feel _worse_, not better."

"Great Sephiroth wouldn't have stayed here if he was cold," Yazoo argued. "Remember, during his last fight with Brother, he didn't even have a shirt on? He must have been too warm."

"I liked that part," Loz chuckled stupidly.

"Pervert!"

"I didn't mean it like that."

"We're Great Sephiroth's _brothers_, you know."

"So is Cloud, isn't he?"

"Oh, yeah. Good point."

"Would you shut up!" Kadaj exploded, drawing his sword and swinging it madly at their heads. "I cannot locate Mother if you fucking mutants don't let me concentrate!"

"Sorry."

"Sorry."

Kadaj smiled - another instant mood swing.

"Come on. This way. Mother is this way..."

_socsocsocsoc_

"Puppet, how nice to see you again so soon."

"I am _really _not in the mood for games today, Sephiroth," Cloud hissed. His fists were clenched tightly, and he stood facing the cell as rigid as a board.

"You weren't quite this tense last time. Would you like me to help you relax?"

Cloud took a step back, realizing it was a mistake even as he did it. The Nightmare smiled smugly, sprang off his cot and watched his adversary intently.

"You think such a small distance keeps your mind safe from mine? Hmm?"

"_Don't_," Cloud growled.

"All right, Puppet. If you tell me what's different this time, what about your visits has changed. Remember, if you lie I will know."

"Why did you have to say that last time? As I was leaving."

Sephiroth watched him critically for a few moments. Then his smile widened, and he looked as human as Cloud had ever seen him.

"Barney thought you snuck something in. He searched you this time. Searched you...everywhere."

The last word came out a rapturous whisper, and, infuriatingly, Cloud felt his face heat up.

"Shy still, aren't you, Puppet? Like that wide-eyed boy who was too awestruck to look at me when I spoke to you. I thought we had gotten past that."

"You don't intimidate me. You disgust me."

"How did it feel, Puppet? Barney and his rubber glove."

Cloud was quiet for a long time. "It was uncomfortable."

"Ah. Barney needs to work on his aim."

Greatly disliking the turn this conversation had taken, Cloud changed the subject. "Where is Seymour? Was he transferred?"

"Indeed, yes. But not in the way you think. You see, just as we believe we return to the Lifestream when we die, Seymour spoke of a place called the Farplane. That is where he has been _transferred_. You know, Puppet, the Lifestream cannot absorb me, Mother's presence in me is too strong. Will death eternally reject you too? Will we be locked in this duel for all time?"

Sephiroth smiled at the ceiling. "Every time you defeat me, the darkness in you will call me back. If you should fall, I will not let the planet have you. I will draw you back to me, for eternity."

"Seymour is dead? How?" Cloud's mouth felt dry. "What did you do?"

"I only talked to him. An interesting case study, as I said. I talked to him of the hopes that have turned to failures, of the love of his people turned to fear, of the continued imprisonment he had to look forward to. At last, a place meant for him. A place he belonged, where he could be hated by the world he once sought to rule." Sephiroth shrugged, putting on a frown that lied for the glee in his eyes. "I seem to have failed to comfort him. Barney found Seymour this morning, hanging from the light fixture."

"You as good as killed him." Cloud stepped closer, not knowing how to feel and settling for curious. "Why?"

"He was growing far too fond of you, Puppet, asking questions and making distasteful comments."

"You did this...because of me?"

"Do you recall what I told you, when the Cetra girl was dying on my sword?"

Zack was shouting; Cloud could just barely hear the memory. _See, Puppet? This is what happens to the competition. This is what will always happen, to those you love and those who love you._

"Surprised, aren't you?" Sephiroth was saying. "To think that I am protecting you the way Zack once did."

A change came over Cloud. His eyes became cold and glaring, and everything delicate and fragile about him turned menacing.

"Do not. Talk about. Zack."

_I think we _should _talk about Zack, actually. He better stop comparing himself to me. I may be a stalker, but he's the one who had to attend ShinRa's Sexual Harassment seminar eight times!_

"I was fond of Zack too, you know, in spite of his interference. He never trusted me with you."

"I guess he knew you too well," Cloud said, wondering if the Ultima Weapon could break this glass. He would love to fight Sephiroth, to release all this anger.

"If only he hadn't gotten between Mother and me as well. It is a pity."

_Hey, man, you were bugging out. Babbling like a psycho. I should have guessed then who your dad is_, Zack went on.

"What about my village, all the people I grew up with? And Tifa?" Cloud asked, feeling like he did when Aerith died, questioning the killer as though he could give a satisfactory answer. "Were they all in your way? They knew nothing about Jenova!"

"Please. You never cared for any of those ordinary, weak mortals. Even as a child you knew you didn't belong there, and you left when you were still a child, never looking back. Fate is powerful, Puppet. It brought you to me. Where you longed to be, with me."

"What about _my_ mother?" Tears were threatening to break Cloud's angry stare, but he couldn't turn away. "What about _my_ sadness?"

Sephiroth smiled, but this time the expression looked genuinely regretful. "Ah, yes. I made the same mistake I recently cautioned you about. I didn't take into account the power our mothers have over us. With that death, I made you what you are. I transformed the little cadet I planned to bed into the only one worthy to stand against me. Fate is as strange as it is powerful. I sought to take you away from her forever, and in truth she, in death, held you away from me. And then, five years later, I did it again."

Sephiroth's eyes imprisoned Cloud in their unblinking gaze. When Cloud had first looked into them, they were a strange silver, a unique eye color. The color of Sephiroth when he was bizarre, but not yet mad. They were a poisonous green now and had been since that night in Nibelheim, when Jenova had taken hold of him at last.

"Now. Tell me, Puppet. What is it you come here for? The past, or the present? Will you be ruled by a practical need to speak with your old nemesis, or the years of hatred you bear?"

No answer. Cloud was trying to remember the questions he had planned, the purpose of coming here, but all he could see was Nibelheim in flames, all he could hear was Zack's voice - then and now - trying to reassure him. He was sixteen again, in a body that wouldn't change, and frozen under the scrutiny of the general, the one he had wanted to be like. He couldn't remember Rufus's plea, or whether he'd ever kept his childhood promise to Tifa. Zack was with him among the burning buildings, protective Zack, saying "Stay here, I'll handle Seph." And that was the last free air they breathed for the next five years, that smoke-filled air as the fire devoured innocence. Ashes, ashes, and it had all fallen down.

"Which is it, Puppet? A memory or me?"

Cloud turned and ran, nearly wetting himself as he went.

_socsocsocsoc_

Reno's vivid red hair made him impossible to miss even in a crowd, so Cloud couldn't fail to spot him as he parked Fenrir in front of the Healin Lodge. The Turk seemed to have recovered his usual cocky, cheerful attitude, and only smiled lasciviously as he approached. Cloud had come straight from the ShinRa building prison, and didn't feel up to trying for intimidation.

"Is he here?"

Reno stood in front of the suite's main door; he seemed to be guarding it. "Yeah, Boss is here, but he's in a...meeting."

"Meeting?"

"That's what he's calling it on all official documents. More like he's trying to drink away his troubles." Reno shrugged. "I'm a bad influence."

"What troubles are these?"

"Oh, Boss is having weird dreams. He thinks the gods are trying to communicate with him or something. So, did Barney get that video footage I asked for?"

Cloud glared at him. "Remind me to Climhazzard you later for that. Right now, one side. I'm going in there."

"I'm not supposed to let anyone."

"I'll let you walk behind me."

"Deal!"

Cloud opened the door to the main room and was greeted by a sight he perhaps should have anticipated. Rufus Shinra and Cid Highwind were sitting cross-legged on the floor with an alarming assortment of alcohols between them.

"...so I says to Strife, c'mon, s'just a plaid skirt and matching blazer, it'll look good on ya! But he knocked me on the head with that Rune Sword, so not only did he attack me, he got, like, a shitload o' AP for it."

"Insult to injury," Rufus slurred. "That's our Cloud. Won't put on a dress unless it's for t'help a friend. Hey, I bet we could rig somethin' like that."

"I'd really rather you not," Cloud said icily, and they looked up.

"Strife!" Rufus cried happily. "Didja figure out the mystery yet, with the clones? Cid here's been helping me with an even bigger question. The plot."

"The plot?"

"Apparently," Rufus whispered loudly and drunkenly, "Cid's some sorta alchemist, and he made the Elixir of Life and he's been alive for thousands of years - "

"S'posed to be a secret," Cid grumbled.

" - and he's lived all these different lives but always uses the same name! It all fits! Tell 'em, Cid, tell 'em what you were gonna do next."

"Well, I was thinkin' of dyeing my hair, puttin' on a few pounds and tryin' my hand at teaching. Be a headmaster, maybe."

"Ha, see!" Rufus said triumphantly, ignoring Reno and Cloud's confusion. "And you'll be careful 'bout that hot young instructor I told you about, right? I'm tellin' you, she's gonna go after one of 'er students."

"Yeah, I'll remember. I'll demote her or somethin'."

"Cid, Cid! Say somethin' in Al Bhed!"

"What?" said Cid.

"What?" said Cloud.

"_What_?" said Rufus.

Reno regretfully pried a half-empty bottle from the president's hand. "Sorry, Boss, but I gotta stop you before you lose it completely. If you go off the deep end, who's gonna sign my paychecks?"

"Stupid Turkey," Rufus grumbled. "Go play with your helichopper. Choppyhopper. Chopocopter."

"Helicopter," Cloud said thoughtfully, frowning.

"Yeah, tha's it."

"It was you!"

"What the hell are you talking about, Strife?"

"You and Rude! You were in the helicopter that came after me and Zack! Admit it!"

"We weren't! That was Rude and what's-her-name, wasn't it?" Reno scratched his head with his cattle prod, making sure it was switched off first. "Hey, Rude!"

The bathroom door opened, letting in a not-so-pleasant smell, and Rude emerged, with a string of toilet paper stuck to his shoe.

"Sorry," he said gruffly, "I had Japanese food for lunch."

"You mean food," Cid corrected.

"Er, yes. Right."

"Rude, that wasn't us in the chopper that time, was it? It was you and that blonde, right?"

"In one version."

"Yeah, that's it."

"Well?" Cloud said impatiently.

"Er, it's like this," Reno said, seeming perplexed himself. "In the reactor, did you push Sephiroth into the mako, or did he jump?"

"I don't remember."

"Ha, see? It's not clear, is it? It's one of them temporal rift, cosmic thingies."

"It's not clear," Cloud hissed, "because Sephiroth had just impaled me with his sword and waved me around like a fucking kite. I think it _was_ you in the helicopter, and you're just afraid to admit it."

Reno put up his hands in a gesture of surrender. "Hey, I was boozing pretty hard back then. Rude and I were goin' through a difficult time in our relationship - "

"Afraid of commitment," Rude admitted, hanging his head. "My fault."

"We got through it. The point is, back then I was trying to repress, so I can't trust my memories of that time. For example, it seemed like there were a lot more Turks back then."

"Budget cuts," Rude ventured.

"Yeah, must be."

"Okay. Fine," Cloud sighed, turning back to the president. "Rufus, the reason I came is to tell you that you need to send someone else to deal with Sephiroth. I can't."

Rufus seemed to sober up a little, and considered this. "If not you, then who, Strife? You know him better than anyone alive."

"And he knows me. That's just the problem. He knows which buttons to push and he pushes them. Hell, he holds them down."

"Then use that, Strife. He wants to get a rise out of you, fine. Do whatever it takes, give whatever is required, to get the information we need. And remember, he doesn't know everything." Rufus smiled stupidly. "He doesn't know about the secret precaution I took."

"What? What secret precaution?"

The president yawned. "I'm sleepy. Keep me awake, Cid. Tell me stories."

"Well, once I was captured by a water fiend, and this pansy named Cecil - "

"You're going to sleep, Rufus," Cloud interrupted. "You're gonna sleep this off and then tell me what I need to know."

"Won't," Rufus said childishly. "Don't want to dream. I don't want to see the gods and their world of lots of worlds. It's scary. For one thing, there's, like, eighteen Bahamuts."

The inebriated young president seemed unwilling to budge. Cloud touched the inside of one of his pockets and smiled, remembering that fate could also be kind when random chance turns out to be anything but. Rufus was out cold before he realized the tranquilizer dart had hit him.

_socsocsocsoc_

Considering the fondness Mother and Sephiroth have for the Northern Cave, Yazoo wondered, would it be blasphemous to hate the fucking place? Leather isn't the worst fabric to be cold and wet in, but the cold and wet were bad enough. Add to that the climbing and sliding and backtracking and chambers that looked like every other chamber, not to mention Loz's stupidity and a dangerously insane leader...Yazoo was starting to wish he had been left behind in that village of archaeologists. Even digging would be more fun than this.

"Mother is calling to me!" Kadaj said again, skipping at the head of their single-file line. "She's near!"

"Hopefully nearer than she was two hours ago, when you first said that," Yazoo grumbled quietly.

"I'm coming, Mother! Keep up, you two, or Mother will have to spank you!" Kadaj giggled madly, twirling on the toes of his boots as they entered a narrow passage.

Loz made a whining sound and began to sniffle. Yazoo patted his arm.

"Don't cry, Loz. Whatever Mother does, she's got to be better than Hojo, right?"

"Hojo didn't like us," Loz said sadly. "He only liked Great Sephiroth. He never came to my cello recitals."

"That might have been because you sucked."

"Oh, yeah." Loz rubbed his eyes with the back of his wet glove. "Does Great Sephiroth like us?"

Privately Yazoo wasn't sure Sephiroth liked anyone but Mother, but he said, "Of course. He's our brother."

"Other Brother doesn't like us. He wouldn't tell us where Mother is, then he wouldn't play with me, then he hit me with his sword. Why doesn't anyone love me?!" he wailed.

From ahead, just out of sight, a blast of Fire2 roared through the passage and slammed into Loz. Nothing a Potion wouldn't fix (except for the singed eyebrows) but definitely a sign they should catch up with Kadaj. Yazoo did his best to comfort his dim brother as they went.

"_I_ love you, Loz."

"Really? Will you play with me?"

"Okay, okay," Yazoo assented, blanching when he was handed a Vincent action figure. It was going to be a long day.

_socsocsocsoc_

Rufus woke up tired, like he had been jogging for hours rather than resting. He was low on energy most of the time anyway...but this was an odd feeling, like his slumber had been somehow forced.

Pushing himself off the mattress to a sitting position, the president felt a faint sting in his forearm, and nodded to Cloud, understanding.

"I commend you, Strife, for your deviousness. Have you ever considered being a Turk?"

Cloud, leaning against the adjacent wall, scowled. It wasn't exactly threatening, but enough to make Rufus wonder where his so-called guards were.

"Reno and Rude?"

Cloud gestured to the adjoining bedroom. Rufus listened; there were familiar noises coming faintly through the closed door. Apparently the Turks thought nothing of leaving their boss alone with someone who had a powerful and understandable grudge against ShinRa.

"What are they doing?"

Cloud rolled his eyes. "What the hell do you think?"

"Ah, yes. It's Thursday, their role-playing day. Which one is Sephiroth this time?"

"_What_?"

"Oh, er, nothing."

"Whatever, Shinra. Look, you mentioned a secret precaution Sephiroth and the clones don't know about. I want to know what it is."

"That's classified, Strife. I'm sorry."

"Not as sorry as I can make you."

"Threats, Strife?" Rufus only looked amused. "You know, you were never officially discharged from the Guard. I could write you up for insubordination."

"Not if your hands are severed from your arms," Cloud growled.

"Cloud, let's be reasonable here. However much you hate ShinRa - and you have reason to do so, certainly - we're trying to accomplish the same thing here. We must stop whatever the clones are trying to do, each in our own ways. This way, if one of us fails, all is not lost. Understand?"

"Do you know what they're trying to do?"

"No," Rufus said honestly. "We have theories, and we have the precaution. Aside from the clones, I suspect only Sephiroth knows the why. Why the sudden refusal to see him, Strife? What happened?"

"I told you, he knows what buttons to push."

"That's all?"

"That's all."

Rufus smiled, a politician smile that made Cloud nervous. "You know, Strife, you're right. It's not fair of me to send you up against Sephiroth without all the information I have. After all, for all we know, Sephiroth has access to the minds of the clones, and vice versa. We should keep each other informed as well. It's not as if Sephiroth still has any kind of control over you, right?"

Cloud stared at him, frozen, with the expression of a child about to be punished. Though anticipating a triumphant result to his clever trap, Rufus felt hurt to see that expression, and to remember it was ShinRa that had been been hurting Cloud since he was sixteen.

"Shall I tell you everything I know, Cloud? Everything I've kept from you?"

It was like a game of chicken, each expecting the other to admit defeat first. Rufus waited a few moments, watching Cloud agonize, and opened his mouth.

"No," Cloud said quickly. "Like you said. You do this your way, I'll do it mine."

"He can still control you."

"No!"

"Strife, you're taking an unacceptable risk here!"

"What?" Cloud scoffed. "Is he gonna make me let him out? He could get out on his own any time. You said it yourself, Rufus - you don't understand him, _I_ do. Any havoc he wants wreaked, he'll do himself. What he does to me is purely for his own amusement, and to torment me."

"For example?"

Cloud shook his head. "It's not a big deal. Nothing Zack wouldn't have done, if he'd had the chance."

_Hey!_

"Sorry, Zack."

"Clearly it's a big enough deal to make you feel unable to keep visiting him."

"Sephiroth got to me," Cloud admitted. "But I've had time to think while you were asleep, and I think he was testing me. The whole time, he was trying to scare me off, but he also seemed to want to talk. I _can _get what we need from him. What he does to me doesn't matter."

"He could kill you."

"He hasn't yet," Cloud said determinedly, "and I don't think he'll try. Even if he did, there's more than one life at stake here."

"Have you ever thought that maybe you beat him because you have more to fight for than he does?" Rufus asked thoughtfully. "Because you have things to protect?"

"Maybe. And maybe he's an idiot who's never come up with a defense against Omnislash."

"I heard you've got a new version, how's that going?"

"I like it," Cloud said. "I get to use all six blades of my sword. It almost makes up for not having a theme song."

"Sephiroth has a new version. I heard it from the gods in my dreams, it's very rock-opera."

"That fucker. He gets a new version and I still don't have _one_? Not fair."

"I think I saw one of the gods working on one for you, actually," Rufus said.

"Boss, you keep hammering away at that Fourth Wall, and pretty soon it's gonna come down completely." Reno had opened the door and stepped in, hastily dressed and pulling off a wig of spiky blond hair.

Rude followed, of course, though he was hard to recognize with a long mane of silver hair. When he saw Cloud, he quickly threw Reno's wig and his own back into the bedroom and shut the door.

Cloud gaped at them. "What the _fuck_ - "

"Nuh-uh, Strife. Unless you want to join in, our sex life ain't none of your business," Reno said, smirking.

Cloud looked at Rufus; the president merely shrugged. He too was a bit disturbed by some of the things he had seen Reno and Rude get up to (the Ifrit costume, in particular, stuck out in his memory) but he really had no authority over what they did behind closed doors. And in the helicopter. And on the roof. And once in his wheelchair, while he was napping.

"Let's get back to what's important, Strife. I will assign someone to supervise your visits with Sephiroth, just in case he tries to send you on a killing spree or impregnate you or something. I've seen it happen in the stories."

Cloud blinked for a few moments and ultimately decided to ignore that last part. "You think he's gonna say anything if anyone else is there? Think again."

"True enough. Reno, Rude, you'll go with Strife to the prison and guard the exit. If Strife isn't himself when he comes out, it'll be up to you to subdue him."

Reno's eyes widened. "Er, shouldn't we have, like, a SWAT team or an army or something for that?"

"Nothing's going to happen," Cloud insisted.

"Well, I'm bringing all my trank darts anyway. And my will. Gaia, whatever you're doing better be worth it, Strife."

"It will be," Cloud said, though he was not nearly as certain as he pretended to be.

What did it matter if Sephiroth had no defense against Omnislash, when Cloud couldn't even stand strong against Sephiroth's words? He knew the Nightmare better than anyone alive, sure, but as an adversary, and before that, an idol. He hadn't known Sephiroth well enough to know his weaknesses, and a weakness was what he would need. Something to fight back with, if need be, something to weaken Sephiroth's advantage.

_I can't think of anything_, Cloud thought as he left the lodge and headed toward Fenrir. _And I know him better than anyone...alive._

"Zack?"

_I'm with you, Spiky, I've got just the thing._

"It doesn't involve me being groped, does it?"

_I guess it doesn't _have _to. Head to the nearest bookstore, I'll explain on the way._

_socsocsocsoc_

"Ooh, you've got Materia, don't you!" Loz said in squeaky, terrible impression of a female voice. "I love Materia! Gimme!"

"Yuffie," Yazoo answered in a low, monotonous voice. "I cannot give you the Materia. I am too busy mourning for my lost love, who is now living inside an ice scuplture in a cave somewhere."

"Aw, poor Vincent! Would a hug cheer you up?"

Loz smacked his Yuffie doll into Yazoo's Vincent doll. Trying to stay in character, Yazoo wiggled his doll in an imitation of struggle, but Loz's brute strength prevailed. He managed to put Yuffie's plastic arms around Vincent, though one of them broke off in the attempt.

"That's the third time you've done that," Yazoo scolded, using his own voice. "Loz, you've got to be more careful."

The larger clone's chin quivered. "Dr. Hojo used to say that. He never gave back my Great Sephiroth doll."

"It's okay, Loz. Look, I fixed Yuffie."

Loz's face brightened, but only for a moment. "And Kadaj took my Aerith and Cloud dolls and switched their clothes. And he didn't give Tifa back her clothes at all. He shouldn't look at her without her clothes on, it isn't nice."

"Ha, you should've seen what Kadaj was doing to the Cloud doll last week," Yazoo laughed.

"What was he doing?"

"Um, brushing its hair."

"Oh, that was nice of him."

"Did you bring the Zack doll?" Yazoo asked, reaching for Loz's backpack.

Loz held onto it protectively. "Yes, but Zack is busy. He's having a tea party with Barret and Cid."

"A tea party?"

"Yes, but it's not going well," Loz said sadly. "Zack doesn't want to be our brother either, Barret won't drink anything but sake, and Cid keeps hitting his girlfriend to make her bring the tea faster. She said she tripped on the stairs, but I know she's lying. I could see it in her eyes."

"Uh...huh," Yazoo said slowly. Because Loz was so stupid, Yazoo often forgot how imaginative he was. "Maybe we should put the Shera doll somewhere safer?"

"I suggested that, but she won't leave him. She says he's not like that all the time, only when he's upset about his rocket."

"...right."

Kadaj peered around a corner about thirty feet ahead of them. "Will you fuckwits hurry up! Mother won't love you if you keep being naughty."

The other two clones quickened their pace, though not by much. They had been wandering the labyrinthine Northern Cave for hours, and though their bodies - enhanced by mako and Jenova cells - were not yet tired, they were thoroughly bored with this whole adventure. They were natural followers, just as Kadaj was a natural leader, but they both would've rather been following Sephiroth.

"Yazoo, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Mother is..._our_ mother, right?" Loz said reluctantly.

"Of course. Great Sephiroth's mother, and Brother's, and ours."

"Then why do we call her 'kaasan'? Isn't that the word for someone _else's_ mother?"

"Er...I don't think you're supposed to ask questions like that."

Loz frowned. "But it bothers me! Maybe she's not _our_ mother, only Great Sephiroth's."

"Did you try asking the Barret doll about this?"

"He just yells at me and says bad words."

"Oh." Yazoo thought silently for a minute. "Great Sephiroth is our brother. You know that, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"Well, if we're his brothers, then his mother must be our mother."

Loz continued to pout. "It still bothers me."

"Well," Yazoo said with a grimace, "you'll be able to ask Kadaj soon."

"Hurry up, you two! Mother is close!"

_socsocsocsoc_

Since nothing had been found on him during the previous visit's cavity search, Cloud seemed to have gotten back into Barney's good graces, and he was excused the search this time. This may also have had to do with the fact that Cloud was having a quiet conversation with Zack as he signed in and checked his sword, as Barney could of course only hear one side of it.

_You can do this, Spiky._

"I don't know..."

_Baby, you beat him when you were a sixteen-year-old kid who could barely hold my Buster Sword. He messes with you because he knows you're a threat to him. He wouldn't bother otherwise._

"That was...I don't know what that was. Anger, I guess."

_Anger won't help this time. You've got to be calm. Try not to show fear. And try not to turn your back to him, that might prove too tempting._

Cloud smiled as he followed Barney to the cell block. "And you'll stay with me?"

_I promise. And don't forget, you've got another secret weapon, if you should need it._

Cloud touched the small rectangular bulge in his back pocket. "Are you sure - "

_Trust me. It's a little-known weakness, but an effective one._

Cloud let his fingers linger over it, as one might touch a talisman for good luck. Zack went quiet as he began to walk the corridor that separated the two rows of cells, perhaps feeling it important that Cloud take these steps alone. Cloud did feel stronger and more sure every moment as he passed under the cold, over-bright lights, but it helped to feel Zack and Aerith watching him proudly and ready to offer reassurance if it should be needed.

The reluctant hero remembered his friends' earlier encouragement and words of love, and played them over in his thoughts as he drew near his destination. In some way, they were here with him too. Tifa, Barret, Vincent, Cid. Nanaki, who was traveling the world with his grandfather. Cait Sith, despite the fact that he was only the toy of an obviously disturbed man. Even Yuffie, who - come to think of it - had been mysteriously absent lately.

Cloud reached the last cell on the left and slowly turned to face it. Sephiroth was sitting on the bed, waiting with a curiously sane and calm expression. There was a hint of fondness in his almost-smile, or maybe indulgence. He had the look of a master who at last perceived his student to be worthy. It was so like seeing the Sephiroth of his adolescent years that Cloud had to stare at his eyes for a long time, before he could see Jenova.

"I thought you would be coming around now, Puppet," the Nightmare said casually. "Are you ready to face me now, to hear me and to speak yourself? If not, I know of a better use for your pretty little mouth."

Cloud's stomach knotted, but he didn't even blink at this. Without hesitation, he approached the cell, opened the small glass door and got down on his knees.

"I want to talk. If you insist on this, we should get it out of the way."

The green in his eyes flickered to their old silver for a moment as Sephiroth studied Cloud, and the blond nearly lost his nerve. Nearly. The famous general, his childhood idol, reached through the open space and stroked Cloud's cheek with his hand. The blond didn't flinch or look away, only stared up with passive defiance, and Sephiroth smiled.

"Have a seat...Cloud."

_socsocsocsoc_

"She's here! We're almost there!"

Yazoo's hands were painfully clenched into fists - much more time here and they would freeze that way. He believed Kadaj this time, but only because there couldn't be more than a few chambers left that they hadn't explored. Besides, Yazoo could finally sense Mother too now, though the pull he felt was faint and weak. Maybe Kadaj's connection to Mother was stronger; that made Yazoo feel sad and alone.

"Hey, Loz," he whispered.

"Huh?"

Loz didn't look weary at all, but then, he was physically the strongest of the three of them; a living, lesser shadow of the strength of Great Sephiroth. Kadaj was an animate reflection of the former general's calculation and madness, what Sephiroth might have been as a teenager if Jenova had had him in her grip then. _What about me_, Yazoo wondered, _what part of Great Sephiroth am I?_ If only he could meet their eldest brother, perhaps he would know. Sephiroth's absence ached in him like a cramp that never let go.

"What're you doing?" Loz asked. "Your face looked funny."

"It's called thinking. Loz, are you feeling what I'm feeling?"

The dim-witted clone scratched his head, reminding Yazoo of a silver-haired, leather-clad ape. "Does it hurt a little?"

"Yes, yes! It's like being too empty and too full at the same time. And what we need keeps moving out of reach, but we have to keep going, because we won't be okay until we've gotten to it."

"I feel that too. I don't like it."

"Maybe we'll never get there at all," Yazoo said sadly. "Maybe we're going about this all wrong."

Loz clapped him on the back, nearly hard enough to knock him over. "Don't worry, Brother. There must be one around here somewhere. But I get to go first, because I need it more."

"_What_?" Yazoo looked at him, completely baffled. "What are you...need what?"

"A bathroom," Loz said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I had Wutainese food for lunch, and now it needs to come out."

"Oh, Gaia," Yazoo groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Kadaj, just ahead, stopped near the opening of a small, half-hidden chamber. "Here, here!" he shrieked. "She's in here, I know it!"

He slipped inside first, then Yazoo, and then Loz squeezed his wide frame through the narrow doorway. The other two hung back as Kadaj kneeled to examine something that was on the icy ground. A few moments passed in breathless silence, then Kadaj let out a wail that might have moved even Hojo to pity.

"Brother, what is it?" Yazoo said anxiously.

Kadaj turned around, his eyes furious and bright, and held out his hands. One held a tiny vial of Jenova cells, no bigger than a thumb, and the other a piece of paper that the vial had been weighing down. It said the same thing on both sides: "How do you keep a Sephiroth clone busy for hours? Turn over."

Loz took the note, read it with great difficulty, and obediently turned it over. His face scrunched up with an unfamiliar, pained expression of thought, and he flipped the note over again.

_To be continued!_

_Review Responses:_

**AyakoAki** Thank you for the encouragement! Poor Rufus, my tormented foil...he's lucky I've only played a few Final Fantasys.

**Stoic-Genius :** Thank you! I plan to keep both Cid and Reno around as much as possible. I hope you enjoy Rufus and Cid's little drinking party above, they should get hammered together more often.

**Kotoba :** Thank you for the info; I'm a newbie to Japanese, still working on the basics of sentence strutcture and the polite forms, so I haven't learned much slang yet. Don't worry, Barret's part in this tale is very limited, for just that reason. (I just couldn't resist having somebody speaking only Japanese.) If you're still reading, maybe you can help me with Loz's question in this chapter? It's bothering me too.

**Ardwynna Morriqu : **I froze after posting chapter one and was considering not going on; your review changed my mind. Thank you so, so much. And the Fourth Wall reference made me smile, because I thought of Reno mentioning it in this chapter. :)

Thank you all!

**EDIT : I'm clear on the "okaasan" thing now. Newbness sucks. :)**


	4. Chapter 4

_Warning - Crisis Core spoilers._

**THE SILENCE OF THE CHOCOBOS**  
_Chapter 4_

Cloud began to breathe steadily again as he sat down on the chair that had been put out for him, but for a few minutes, he couldn't think what to say. Sephiroth's words of the previous visit had hit too close to home, and he feared feeling that vulnerable again. Strangely, he felt more sad than anything. How had it all come to this? Part of Cloud still looked at Sephiroth and longed to admire him, longed for that innocent time of years ago, and it was not only the Jenova cells in him reacting to Sephiroth's nearness.

_Does he think of that time at all?_ Cloud wondered. _Did Zack matter to him at all? Did I?_

"You and Zack mattered to me," Sephiroth said lowly. "Two of the few things that did."

Cloud started; he should've expected this but had not. "Don't. Please."

"I'm not in your mind, you know I'm not."

"Then how - "

"Some people are said to wear their hearts on their sleeves. You wear yours in your eyes." The prisoner frowned slightly. Nearly all his expressions were slight. "I seem to remember...your eyes first began to glow the night you attacked me in the Nibelheim reactor. Strange, since you had not yet been exposed to mako."

"Did I push you, or did you jump?"

"As I recall it, I grabbed your ass, you objected to my doing so, and that anger gave you just enough adrenaline to shove me off the ledge. Why, do you remember differently?"

Cloud shrugged. "It's not clear. Reno said something about temporal rift, cosmic thingies."

"Ah."

"Did you shout 'Weeeee!' as you fell, or did I imagine that?"

Sephiroth looked uncomfortable. "Er, you must have been hallucinating. Shock and blood loss can do that."

"Oh."

The plan had been to steel himself, get the information and leave, but it had been so long since the last time Cloud was in Sephiroth's presence and not fighting for his life. Though he was ashamed to realize it, he was in no hurry to leave. Sephiroth fascinated him still, in spite of - or perhaps because of - everything.

"I didn't know you could draw."

"I never had much time for it, before."

Most of the sketches displayed were of Cloud himself; he found a large one that wasn't and studied it. Sephiroth noticed.

"Mother, as she was when I first saw her."

"Just before I stabbed you with Zack's sword," Cloud said, sounding neither proud nor guilty.

Sephiroth smiled. "What a tendency we have to impale one another with long weapons, Puppet. I know what that says about _me_. Do you know what it implies about you?"

"Bullshit."

"Oh, I agree. You were obviously made to take, not to give. Even if you hadn't had a crush on me, which I know you did, you would have given in to me, when the time came. Not given in to your general, but to Sephiroth, whose will was stronger than your own, who was born to dominate as you were born to submit. You would not have fought me or made a single sound of protest if I had bent you over, as I intended to do. You would have taken me as you take everything upon yourself - guilt, failure, responsibility. You take every burden gladly, any means of punishing yourself. The difference is, that you would have enjoyed mine."

Cloud tried not to shiver, though it felt like a block of ice had lodged in his stomach and was melting into his veins.

"Before you destroyed my entire world," he managed, "I did like you."

"I didn't do it to hurt you, Puppet. Mother willed it, and so it had to be done."

Cloud looked at the drawing again. It was very skillfully done, as they all were. Jenova, with her bright, dead eyes and cold beauty.

"You look like her."

Sephiroth smiled meaningfully. "It is because her presence in me is so old and so strong. The more of her cells one has, bear in mind, the more one will resemble her."

"You have a different kind of cell now, don't you?"

"Touché, Puppet."

_socsocsocsoc_

Reno was tapping his weapon against the wall behind him, staring at the floor with an almost disgusted expression. For one who liked to be in motion every moment - preferably fucking or fighting - boredom was nearly painful.

"You know, Rude, it's not like we're useful here. If Sephiroth stuffs dynamite down Strife's pants and sends him into the center of Edge, what are we gonna do? I really don't want to fight Strife, and not just 'cause there are better uses for him."

Rude nodded. "Got Omnislashed."

"He held back at the last minute and struck the finishing blow with a Braver instead, but that sucked too. Anyway, like I was saying, I'm bored, and there's no point to this."

"Orders."

Reno rolled his eyes. "Something tells me Boss isn't competent enough to give orders right now. Just before I left he threw my phone out the window, screaming something about machina."

"Stress of the job."

"Nah, it's those dreams. You think maybe he's really seeing the gods?"

"Not religious."

"I know, I know, you won't even _consider_ a church wedding. I thought we could use the old one in the Midgar slums." Reno grinned slyly. "Or we could have the honeymoon there instead of Costa del Sol."

"Where the Ancient girl used to go?" Rude said, his voice remaining even. "Strife wouldn't allow it."

"Heh, c'mon. We could fuck on top of his girlfriend's flowers."

"I like flowers. Just not in that way."

Reno smiled. Very few people would have believed Rude capable of making a joke.

_socsocsocsoc_

"Highwind's House of Tea and Tits."

"Cid, it's Tifa. Where are you?"

"Somewhere over Junon, I think. You know the great thing about port towns? Hookers. Hookers as far as the eye can see."

"Cid."

"Can't swing a dead Black Bat without hittin' a hooker. I know, I tried once, and she overcharged me."

Tifa thanked Gaia that Marlene was at school. Even over the phone, Cid's voice tended to carry. "I need you to come back, I need to borrow 'Shera'."

"Ha, you can have her if you want. Just promise you'll let me videotape it."

"The ship, Cid."

The gruff pilot sputtered unintelligibly for a few moments. "Hell no! She's my baby! Paint's barely dry on 'er!"

"It's important," Tifa pleaded. "Yuffie is missing."

"Missing?"

"I've been trying to get ahold of her for days with no luck. Lord Godo has had a few search parties go out, but they haven't found a trace of her."

"So, you're sayin' you want to go to Wutai and hunt for that hyper little freak, even though she's probably just out swiping other people's materia? What about Cloud? Don't he need us?"

"Honestly, I think he'd be relieved to have us gone for a while. You know how he worries about people close to him," Tifa said. "Besides, Barret will have to be here to watch Marlene, so Cloud won't be all alone. And there's Vincent."

"Thanks for noticing me," a grim voice intoned from a dark corner of the bar.

"What do you say, Cid? C'mon, it's Yuffie. She had no obligation to help us against Sephiroth, she was optional, remember? But she fought for us. Now she needs our help. We're her friends. We've got to fight for her."

"All right, all right!" Cid yelled. "Damn it, woman. I get why Strife dreads the inspirational friendship speeches. You win. I'll be there in about an hour, if the wind's good."

"Thank you, Cid. I owe you one."

"Pay me back in porn."

Tifa switched off her phone and took a deep breath. She squinted at the corner, then relaxed her eyes as Vincent stepped out of the darkness.

"I will assist Cloud in any way I can."

"Thanks, Vincent. I know you and he have...a sort of understanding."

"A shared pain. Yes. Those who have suffered from Hojo's vanity are marked by that experience. In being set apart from all others, we have become - "

"Family?"

Vincent didn't answer right away. "I was going to say linked. We watch humanity as observers only. Our truest understanding lies with one another."

Tifa frowned. "Like the way Cloud understands Sephiroth."

"And vice versa."

"You know, Sephiroth has had so many opportunities to kill Cloud, and I can't even remember him trying," Tifa said slowly. "Cloud could've killed Sephiroth rather than let him surrender, but he didn't, even after his mother, and Aerith. Cloud used to admire Sephiroth, and Sephiroth might still have some control over him...you don't think Cloud would ever...join him, do you?"

This time, Vincent didn't answer at all.

_socsocsocsoc_

"That one is the ShinRa Mansion, isn't it?"

Sephiroth glanced toward the sketch Cloud was looking at. "Yes. The place where my understanding of myself truly began. Sometimes, Puppet, to find what you seek, you must return to the source of yourself."

He smiled meaningfully, and Cloud leaned forward, hands pressed to the seat of the chair, and frowned.

"You're trying to tell me something, aren't you?"

"Clever puppet."

"What is it?"

"Zack used to do that."

"What?"

Sephiroth stared at him thoughtfully. "The way you are sitting. Now that I think of it, you display many of Zack's mannerisms. Two years ago, you knew things only Zack could have known. Why?"

"I was suffering from severe mako poisoning when Zack...died. My mind began to repair itself, but my memories became mixed with all the stories Zack had told me. It was like sharing my body with his ghost."

"It's more than that, Puppet, isn't it? Zack isn't in the Lifestream. He is with you, as the Cetra girl is."

"Yes," Cloud said, wondering if it was a good idea to admit this.

Sephiroth began to laugh, slowly at first, then at length almost hysterically. Cloud gripped his chair and watched in terror, thanking Gaia for one small favor - that this laugh was nothing like Hojo's, though it was nearly as dark and blood-chilling. Sephiroth just managed to calm himself down before he could fall rolling on the floor, and recovered with a cool smile.

"What's so funny?"

"Only that Zack has managed to beat me at something at last. He's gotten inside you first."

Cloud winced.

"Is he yelling?" Sephiroth asked, amused. "Has he called me dirtier than a Wutainese whore yet?"

"Just now."

"That was one of his favorites. Angeal used to assign him laps for that."

Cloud tried covering his ears, more out of habit than anything. "Zack, you're giving me a headache. Stop or I'll have you exorcised."

Sephiroth laughed softly. "Poor Cloud. Literally and figuratively haunted."

"Tell me what you're trying to tell me."

"Puppet, I will tell you all you need to know. All you need to do is listen to me."

"Okay..."

"But there are things I want to know too. One-sided conversation with you doesn't interest me. You must give me honest answers only. If I sense a lie, I will make you swallow it, along with something else."

Cloud frowned.

"Nothing to fear, Puppet. Barney won't disturb us, so it's just you and me."

"There are also two Turks here. Rufus insisted."

"Turks hardly count. Which ones?"

"Reno and Rude."

"Ah," Sephiroth said. "Yes, I remember them. I once found them in my bathroom. Rather than attempt to clean the fixtures, I had them replaced."

Cloud smiled at this, unable to help it. "How did they get in?"

"Turks are good at bypassing security codes."

"They must have been scared when you walked in."

"Hardly," Sephiroth scoffed. "Reno merely asked me to join in, said he wanted to give me something to remember him by, as though I'd want such a thing. I was, at the time, getting ready to leave for Wutai. Do you remember the Wutai War?"

"Not much. I was only a cadet then. Zack talked about it sometimes."

"Did he tell you about his encounter with Lord Godo?"

_Oh, crap. Spiky, don't listen to him!_

"Yes," Cloud said. "Zack cornered him and demanded a duel, and Godo's surrender of Wutai if he won. Zack defeated him in ten minutes, even though he was attacked by ninjas halfway through the fight."

Sephiroth laughed. "That's quite an imaginative account."

"What really happened?"

_That _is _how it happened! Twenty ninjas, and they had bazookas!_

"What really happened is Zack rushed into Lord Godo's home against my orders and found Godo's young daughter, who agreed to take him to her father. He followed her into the basement, where she trapped him under a steel cage. While ShinRa negotiated Wutai's surrender, I had to negotiate Zack's release."

_Who are you gonna believe, Spiky, him or me?_ But even Zack seemed to be laughing a little.

"Godo's daughter...you mean Yuffie?"

"I suppose so. Small world, isn't it, Puppet? You mentioned mako poisoning, earlier."

"Yeah..."

"Hojo?"

Cloud nodded. Sephiroth's eyes flashed silver and he frowned darkly. Angry like this, he was much scarier on his own than with the influence of Jenova.

"He was trying to replicate me, wasn't he?"

"Yes. He thought that you were dead. We all did. That I had killed you."

"He must have been thrilled to get his hands on you."

A memory hit Cloud like a tidal wave, even though Zack tried to shield him from it. His body burning as a mako infusion healed the wound in his abdomen. Cold, thin hands examining his arms and legs, testing the strength of his muscles, opening his mouth. Someone patting his hair as you would do to a dog. _"So this is the one who finished him off? Fascinating, fascinating...I can use him as a new test subject."_

"Puppet."

Cloud looked up, knowing he must have gone pale.

"Show me."

"No - "

"Let me see!"

The silver eyes flickered green, and Sephiroth was through Cloud's weak mental barriers, stomping through his thoughts without a care for what a violation this was. He found the hazy, mostly repressed memories of Hojo and flipped through them like the pages of a scrapbook. He saw the injections, the incisions and insane ranting, and Zack begging to take Cloud's place for every procedure. Forced to see all this too, Cloud buried his face in his hands and scolded himself not to cry, while Zack whispered comfort to him. He felt Sephiroth's rage as the ex-general withdrew; he didn't need to see it on his face.

"I'm sorry."

"What?" Cloud said wearily. He was pretty sure the apology wasn't for the intrusion.

"I would not have willingly seen any other living creatures endure what I did, you and Zack least of all. I am sorry."

Cloud looked up, blinking. "It was just five years. It was a lot longer for you."

"Longer, yes, but also more gradual. At the rate he must have worked on you, it's surprising that you survived."

"It was Zack. He wouldn't let me give up."

_I still won't_, Zack said, and Cloud smiled.

"Zackary was always good at taking care of people. He got you out of there?"

"Yeah. We got as far as a bluff overlooking Midgar. He had to practically carry me. I could hear him and see what was going on, but I couldn't talk, and it was hard to think." Cloud put his arms around his knees and stared at the floor. "I started to come out of it just as he was walking away. He hid me from the soldiers that were coming and went to fight them alone. He must have known it was hopeless..."

_Hey, you thought I looked bad, you should've seen them!_

"...but he told me everything would be all right. He hugged me, like he didn't want to let go - "

_Gaia, I didn't._

" - and he was gone. By the time I could move, it had begun to rain, and when I crawled up to Zack he was almost dead. I wanted to just lay down next to him and stay there, but he said he loved me and that if I loved him I would promise to live for both of us. He put the Buster Sword in my hand and I promised, and the next thing I knew, I was working for AVALANCHE. I knew the sword and the mako in my eyes belonged to SOLDIER, and I remembered you. But I forgot Zack."

_Because at that time, it would've broken you to remember me. Far as I'm concerned, that's a compliment._

"I guess I should thank you. Without everything you put me through before Meteorfall, I might not have begun to straighten out my memories." Cloud looked at Sephiroth sadly. "It seems like everything goes back to Hojo, doesn't it? All this suffering."

While hating Sephiroth, it had been easy to forget that he had been the most unfortunate of the mad doctor's victims, the one he poured all his ambition and selfishness and control into. Five years, hell though they were, seemed tame beside more than twenty years of Hojo's most fervent attentions, without even the safe and loving childhoods Cloud and Zack had had to support them. Even after Aerith, even after Nibelheim, Cloud now realized he could no longer summon up hatred for this fallen idol, the angel with a monster's wing. When he looked at Sephiroth, he saw the corruption of an innately good man, the unforgivable work that Jenova picked up where Hojo had left off.

"I hope you didn't kill Hojo completely, I would like to do it." Sephiroth smiled. "What a gentle stare from your pretty eyes, Puppet! People will say we're in love."

Cloud blushed and averted his eyes. "Um, we should talk about the clones."

"Of course. Down to business. Funny, isn't it? Had Hojo kept you longer, had your will been less than it is, you might be the same as the ones you now oppose."

"Yeah, well," Cloud said softly. "There but for the grace of Zack go I."

_socsocsocsoc_

"Aw, hell," Cid groaned when he saw what Tifa brought aboard the _Shera_ with her. "Maybe I didn't tell you, woman, but this ship's got a no-pets policy."

"Since when?"

"Twelve seconds ago."

Tifa glared at him, hands on her hips, reminding him that those hands were deadly weapons.

"Aw, c'mon! It's bad enough when Red XIII - "

"You mean Nanaki."

" - Nanaki is on board, he sheds everywhere and he humped my leg that time - "

"You asked him to!" Tifa retorted.

" - and damn it, woman, you should have seen what he left behind the console in the engine room!"

"I can promise you, there won't be any problems."

Cid threw up his hands. "What about hairballs?"

"He's animatronic, moron!"

Cait Sith, astride his faithful Moogle, maneuvered between the two humans. "Faith, ye need not be worryin', boyo. I've nair suffered from the common cat's affinity to lick meself. Nae hairballs to worry about."

"Well fuck me, now the damn thing is Irish. What the hell is goin' on, Tifa?"

"I don't know," Tifa said quietly. "I guess you'd have to ask Reeve."

"No way in hell am I goin' anywhere near that freak if I don't have to. That man's nuttier than Strife and not nearly as hot."

"Who be this Reeve yer talking about, me good sir? He sounds like a foine man!"

"See!" Cid pointed to Cait Sith and glared at Tifa. "That's just what I'm talking about! Tuesti won't even admit that he's the one working the damn thing and it creeps me out!"

"Reeve's a little...odd," Tifa admitted, "but he's our friend, and so is Cait Sith."

"Ha, now you're doin' it!"

"They could've kept spying on us and looking out for ShinRa's interests two years ago," Tifa continued. "They didn't have to risk everything to help us save the planet. Cait Sith even sacrificed his body to help us get the Black Materia, and Reeve's lucky ShinRa didn't find out what he was doing and execute him. After all they've done for us - "

"Damn it, woman!" Cid roared. "Fine, fine, it can come along, just quit it with the speech."

"Thank you."

"So I hae yer permission to come aboard, sir? I thank ye kindly." The Moogle bowed low, and Cait Sith had to cling to its ears to keep from falling.

"Yeah, fine, just don't get in the way."

"I'll be nae tribble at all!"

"Actually, now he sounds Scottish," Tifa reflected. "And should we be using these proper nouns at all?"

"Tifa, Barret speaks Japanese and Rufus is looking for the plot," Cid said defeatedly. "Fourth Wall ain't nothin' but rubble now."

_socsocsocsoc_

"I feel so trapped. The walls are closing in."

"Not for much longer."

"I'll be stuck here forever. No more fighting, no more fucking. Forever."

Rude frowned. Reno was dramatic, certainly, but it wasn't like him to sound so dejected. Rude came closer and put an arm around him, and Reno leaned against him, pouting.

"What's really wrong?"

"I know we're not supposed to talk about it," Reno said quietly. "Boss says he's handling it. But I think he's sicker than he's letting on. Maybe his dreams are a symptom, and if they are, he's getting worse."

"Worried?"

"Boss is a good guy. Not like his dad. He really wants to make the world better, as much as he can."

"And?" Rude prodded.

"And I love being a Turk. I don't want to be anything else. If Boss were gone, ShinRa would fall apart, and then what?"

"You're good at other things. Well, one other thing."

Reno snickered. "I guess I could go back to that, if you weren't the jealous type."

Rude smiled, and squeezed him tighter. "Boss always plans ahead. He would leave ShinRa in capable hands. Reeve's, probably."

"That's not very reassuring. I'm pretty sure Reeve doesn't like me."

"Can you blame him, after - "

"That again?" Reno groaned. "I told you, that damn cat toy came on to _me_. Shit, I know Reeve represses a lot, but acting out your sexual impulses through a stuffed toy? And they say _we're_ the perverts."

"What will it take for us to reclaim that title?" Rude asked, removing his sunglasses and winking suggestively.

"Oh, I don't know. Ditching guard duty for sex might be a good start. But weren't you saying we should follow orders?"

"Making you feel better is more important," the dark Turk purred, taking the other's hand and heading for a storage closet they had passed earlier. "If you're gonna feel trapped, I want to make sure I'm doing the trapping."

"Perfect place for it," Reno said as they stumbled into the small, dark room. "You can be the lonely warden, and I'm a prisoner in need of discipline. Are you gonna gag me if I call for help?"

Reno put the tip of his cattle prod between his lips. Rude maneuvered him up against a wall and gently put the weapon aside.

"Don't do that. Gaia knows where that thing has been."

"_I_ know," Reno said with a smile. "And you should too, considering you were the one who put it there."

_socsocsocsoc_

"Just tell me what to do."

Sephiroth laughed. "I always knew you were submissive."

"About the clones! I've got to stop them!"

"_Do_ you really have to, Puppet? Let's explore this. Where does this need to save people come from?"

Cloud glared at him. "Maybe the fact that _you_ keep threatening and attacking the people I care about?"

"I didn't create this part of you, Puppet. It was in place already the night you charged up the stairs in that reactor and demanded that I give back your mother and your village. Was there someone you failed to save, once?"

Cloud hesitated. "When we were kids, Tifa tried to climb Mt. Nibel alone. I went after her, I thought I could protect her...but she got hurt. I always remembered afterward that I had failed her."

"The danger passed quickly, then. She did recover."

"Yes."

Sephiroth shook his head. "That is not it, then. It must have been a greater failure than that to make you as you are, Puppet. Think."

"I can't remember much about being a kid. Those memories were disrupted by the mako poisoning too."

Sephiroth smiled. "Come here, Puppet."

"Why?"

"I told you what would happen if you lie. Time to be a good little cadet and take your medicine."

"No!"

"You think I won't make you?"

"If you do that, I'll never come back here again," Cloud threatened, gripping the chair.

"Of course you will, Puppet. You wouldn't let a little humiliation keep you from saving the planet, which you cannot do without my help. My will is stronger, _Cloud_. Yield to it."

Slowly, Cloud put his hand to his back pocket and began to slide his secret weapon out of it. To keep Sephiroth distracted, he put on a shy expression that he knew the prisoner couldn't resist staring at.

"Don't be scared, Puppet. I won't give you more than you can take. I'll even give you ten seconds to come here on your own. Ten, nine, eight - "

Cloud nearly tore the book open, and began to read from the first random page his eyes fell on. "'Your wish where life is fostered. The gift of the goddess is handed down. Your sacrifice and the world's end. Like the blowing winds over an unknown water surface - softly and certainly.'"

Cloud judged it safe to stop by the strange whimpering sound he heard. He looked up to find the one-winged angel sitting on the floor curled up into a ball, rocking back and forth. After ten seconds of relative silence, the face hidden behind silver hair cautiously lifted up. Sephiroth couldn't keep Cloud from seeing his fear, though he did quickly hide it.

"'Loveless'."

Cloud nodded.

"Who told you? Zack, wasn't it?"

"He said an old friend of yours used to quote from it constantly, and it drove you crazy. Well, as crazy as you ever were before Nibelheim."

Sephiroth stood up, already showing no sign of the minor meltdown he'd just had, and went back to his seat on the bed. "An old friend, yes. One of the other experiments. That's very clever, Puppet, to remind me of that time of my life in this setting, under these lights."

The lights were so bright, so cold and clinical. Cloud closed the book, feeling nauseated suddenly, and disgusted with himself for not considering Sephiroth's feelings. Then he wanted to kick himself. Maybe Jenova drove Sephiroth, but he allowed her to do so, he had sought her out and obeyed her orders. Sephiroth was the Nightmare, not his boyhood crush anymore, so why did Cloud feel sick at the thought of injuring him?

_It's the hair_, Cloud told himself. _I always had a weird thing for his hair._

Sephiroth was laughing. "You're too easy to guilt, Puppet. You take all the fun out of it. You saw an advantage and took it. I commend that."

"You weren't leaving me much of a choice," Cloud mumbled. "I hate this book too, you know. I had to read it once for English class."

"You mean Japanese class."

"Er, yeah. Right."

"So, what must I do to keep you from reading any more?"

"Just tell me what I need to know."

Sephiroth leaned against the wall behind the bed, making himself comfortable. "Just like that, Puppet? I speak and you tell me nothing in return? That won't do, as I said earlier. I have questions too. I've missed so much of your life. For example, I heard rumors of a certain dress-wearing incident."

"If Cid has been telling people about that, I'll kill him," Cloud said angrily, trying to ignore Aerith's giggling.

"Was it only that one time? Or did you have urges to try on your mommy's clothes, once upon a time?"

"No. Did you ever have an urge to crawl into _your_ mommy's aquarium?"

Something dark flickered in Sephiroth's eyes, but it was gone almost instantly. "No need to delve into this anger at being equated to anything feminine. A single glance at you makes that clear. It's a very old rage, isn't it, Puppet? The one I want is also old. The one that set you on the path to be a hero, the path to me."

"I wanted to be like you, that's all."

"Hmm. Don't worry, Puppet. I like a challenge, and you have always been that, even when the only obstacle was Zack hovering over you like a mother hen. Ask him if he regrets introducing us."

Cloud was quiet for a few moments, then turned slightly pink.

"Well?"

"He says, 'I called dibs, Seph, I had thought you would respect that.'"

Sephiroth laughed. "I hardly planned or expected it. The way you described him led me to believe I would be meeting a baby chocobo. What was that, Puppet?"

"What?"

"You flinched. Have I stumbled across a chocobo-related phobia?"

_Hey, you always did hate it when I talked about them_, Zack said thoughtfully. _I thought it was just about the hair._

"It's just about the hair."

"Puppet, you know the penalty for lying."

Sephiroth wasn't going to give him any further warning this time, but Cloud had _Loveless_ open in an instant. "'The most profound mystery is the gift of the goddess, and in pursuit of this gift we set on a journey and take flight. Hopeless as it may - '"

"All right, all right! Damn. Where has that famous compassion gone, Puppet? With the exception of your first visit, I haven't had any for years, you know."

"I'm sure Reno would be more than happy to help. Should I bring him in? No? Fine. Now tell me how to stop the clones. Tell me what they're doing."

Sephiroth rolled his eyes. "I have been trying to, but you refuse to take the hints. All right, Puppet, I'll make it simple. Did you learn anything about Jun Murakami in the Guard?"

"Who?"

"A famous Wutainese general. He stressed, above all else, a need to carefully consider the mind and character of the enemy. Give it a try."

"Kadaj is...you," Cloud began, already frustrated. "Just cruder, and crazier."

"His mind is very immature. Not quite Oedipal, but very childish. Correct?"

"Yeah. He wants his mother and doesn't care who he has to stomp on or how impractical his shoes are for stomping."

Sephiroth smiled. "You're doing very well, Puppet. You are very close to the answer. Understand what your enemy wants and you will understand your enemy."

"But you were never like that! If you and Kadaj want the same thing - "

"Oh, hardly," Sephiroth said with a frown.

"Then tell me! I don't understand!"

"Puppet, I will only be as open with you as you are with me. I do want to help you, for I also don't especially like the thought of my clones succeeding in their work. But you continue to evade my questions, and though I give you hint after hint, you remain as oblivious as Zack after a bottle of Wutainese brandy."

_Hey!_

Cloud stared at him, a searching look in his eyes. "Why do you keep mentioning Wutai?"

Sephiroth smiled a pleased, satisfied smile.

"Wutai has something to do with this? What?"

"I believe we have visitors, Puppet."

Cloud turned to see Rufus, robed and wheelchair-bound, as usual, approaching in the company of a short man with gray hair and tiny spectacles. The man looked vaguely familiar, and Cloud tried to place him as he removed his lab coat before getting too near the cell. A courtesy to Sephiroth, probably, who - Cloud figured - must have the same aversion to the white garment that he did himself.

The stranger peered at Cloud and shook his head sadly. "Didn't I warn ShinRa not to let this one have weapons?"

"Mr. President, Dr. Kimura," Sephiroth said coolly. "I trust you have a good reason for interrupting me and my guest."

"Now, Sephiroth," the doctor said, "there's no need for unpleasantness. Not like last time."

"I was perfectly courteous last time. I even gave you a drawing as a souvenir."

Dr. Kimura looked back to Cloud. "Ah, I thought the subject looked familiar."

"You're handing them out like hostess gifts?!"

"Don't worry, Puppet, I won't forget about you."

Dr. Kimura coughed uncomfortably and took a thick packet of paper from his briefcase. "I know you won't cooperate with me face-to-face, Sephiroth, so I thought we'd try conducting the interview this way."

"Hojo used to give me questions in writing."

"What did you do?" Rufus asked warily.

Sephiroth blinked. "I answered them. What would _you_ do? The man was a nutcase."

"Fair enough. Dr. Kimura needs some time with Sephiroth," Rufus said to Cloud, "you'll have to come back another time."

"But I was finally getting somewhere!"

"If I remember the SOLDIER evaluations well, Mr. President, you shouldn't be letting that one in here at all."

"I told you, that was Zack!" Cloud exploded, prompting two of the three other men to jump back (roll back, in Rufus's case). "He was distracting me, because he's an asshole!"

_Hey!_

"You are, Zack!"

Dr. Kimura frowned. "You know, I could prescribe something for that."

"Go on, Puppet," Sephiroth said softly. "I'll give you a clue to pass the time with. Do you remember the clinic in Mideel?"

"Yes..."

"It's been rebuilt, but it's still not fully operational, and there's a list of patients who are waiting to be treated there. You want to check this list. Such things are confidential, but I'm sure President Shinra can help you with that."

Rufus nodded. "I'll give it a try."

"Come back soon, Puppet. Maybe you'll have grown a bit less shy by then, or at least more desperate."

As Cloud left them, walking slowly down the hallway between the cells, he could hear Dr. Kimura trying to get Sephiroth to cooperate, asking him to please stay still long enough to Sense his stats. Sephiroth was singing something in response; it sounded like a more impressive version of his old theme music.

_Bastard._

_Me or him?_

"You too, Zack. Why did you have to mess with me during the psych. evaluation? Maybe things would have turned out different."

_I had a good reason._

"That you've never told me."

_Those mako treatments were hell, and there were rumors about SOLDIERs mutating into monsters, even before we found those failed experiments in the Nibelheim reactor. I couldn't stand the thought of that happening to you._

"Why can't you ever let me stay mad at you?" Cloud whispered.

"Mr. Strife! Sir!"

Cloud had been so distracted that he hadn't realized he was out of the cell block and nearly to the front exit. Barney was hurrying after him, waving a piece of paper.

"The prisoner asked me to make sure you get this."

It was a sketch of Lord Godo's house in Wutai, done with an impressive amount of detail. Sephiroth had clearly intended Cloud to take this hint no matter how many times he had to give it, and Cloud was grateful for that, but gratitude quickly gave way to unease. He wondered if Tifa had ever managed to contact Yuffie.

The guard was walking away; Cloud called him back.

"Barney, I have a favor to ask you."

_socsocsocsoc_

"You fucktards! This is all your fault! Mother needs me and you're no help at all, and Loz, you're so Gaia-damned stupid it's unbelievable and Yazoo your hair is vexing me!"

Loz burst into tears and ran off toward his room, clutching his dolls, and Yazoo thought for a moment of doing the same, only without dolls. After hours of wandering a cold, wet cave it was nice to be home, but not if their leader was going to do nothing but scream.

"Find your happy place, Kadaj."

"Oh, _fuck_ my happy place!"

Yazoo was about to agree to do so on the off chance that it might quiet things down, but Kadaj stormed off to the sound of doors slamming one after another. Yazoo decided to go warm up in a nice hot bath instead, if he could convince Loz to get his toy ships out of the tub, that is. Yazoo didn't want a repeat of yesterday, when he had tripped on the model _Gelnika_ and fallen face-first into the toilet. Loz had eaten Wutainese food yesterday too, which hadn't helped matters.

Kadaj knew, on some level, that slamming doors and stomping was childish, but fortunately he was young enough to not care. So close to finding Mother, and she was snatched away from him again! This must be the doing of President Shinra. Through his connection to Jenova Kadaj knew what Sephiroth knew - that Rufus Shinra had always had a reputation for cleverness, and with those Turks by his side, loyal as guard dogs, who could guess what he might have done with Mother?

Whenever he got this anxious, there was only one thing that helped. Kadaj kept his sewing machine, fabric and patterns in a little room just off the main basement. To get there he had to walk past a circular hole in the floor that went deep into the ground until it reached a bare cement floor. He was used to it by now and didn't even look down as he skirted around it, his mind on a hemline that needed to be raised and not on the indignant screeching that echoed out of the abyss:

"HEY! YOU PROMISED ME MATERIA!!!!"

_To be continued!_

_Author's note: Many thanks to the wonderful Chocolinx for the _Loveless _translations. For some reason I can't get his site address to stay on this document, but Google it! I'll try sticking it in my profile too. Gah._

_I feel I should probably apologize for Reno. I don't even want to think about what part of my subconscious he comes from._

_Thank you to all who've been reading and reviewing!_


	5. Chapter 5

**THE SILENCE OF THE CHOCOBOS**  
_Chapter 5_

Rufus Shinra looked more and more tired each time Cloud saw him. The gray hood only offered occasional glimpses of the eyes beneath, but they appeared to be half-closed, and he sat hunched over in the wheelchair. Cloud could remember, only vaguely, seeing Rufus a few times when he was in the ShinRa Guard - what a change, from that arrogant teenager to this weary man.

"Strife. Any trouble getting the patient list?"

"No, the name Shinra still has some pull, apparently."

"Anything?"

Cloud had the sheaf of papers opened to about the middle. "There's a patient who applied to the clinic in Mideel under the name Jay Enova."

"Clever," Rufus laughed. "For what kind of treatment?"

"No idea. Dr. Lange says he won't give that kind of information to anyone, whatever ShinRa says. Basically a dead end."

"Don't get discouraged, Strife. The gods are on our side, I think. They want me to figure out the plot, I know it."

"Uh, have _you_ thought of applying to the clinic?"

"For what? Oh," Rufus said, gesturing to the wheelchair. "I've consulted with specialists. Nothing more can be done. But I appreciate your concern, Strife."

"There's something else, sir." Cloud immediately winced; he hadn't intended the 'sir'.

The president smiled. "Is it about Yuffie Kisaragi's disappearance?"

"You know about that?"

"Tifa called from Wutai. They've had no luck with the search so far. I sent Reno and Rude to help them finish, which they weren't terribly happy about."

"Shouldn't the Turks be here with you?"

Rufus frowned. "You sound like Reno. I assure you, I can get along fine by myself for a day. This is a more secure place than it looks, and I can always call them back early if I should need them."

Cloud glanced at the president's desk, where there was a mess of wires and bits of metal and plastic. "What did you do to the phone?"

"Oh. I smashed it after Tifa called."

"Why, did she make a speech?"

"No, Yevon forbids machina. Are you going to see Sephiroth again before dark? You said you were getting somewhere."

"He's been helpful, in a frustrating, hint-dropping way. He as good as told me that Wutai has something to do with this..."

Rufus nodded thoughtfully. "You don't think Yuffie's disappearance is a coincidence."

"Right."

"I don't either. Just a part of the plot we're not seeing. But what would the clones want with her?"

"I don't know. But Sephiroth does, and I know I can get it from him."

"You've found a button of _his_ to push?"

Cloud shrugged. "This book a friend of his used to quote all the time, he hates it. Zack told me about it."

"'Loveless'?" Rufus chuckled. "That was Genesis. I'm surprised Sephiroth never killed him, he came close a few times. Once, he dropped him off the top of the ShinRa building. After Genesis recovered, we had to send him away under a new identity to keep him alive."

Zack hadn't told Cloud about this. "Where did you send him?"

"My father's friend Auron snuck him out to another world. I was keeping Seymour in the prison to repay that favor." Rufus sighed heavily. "Auron's either going to thank me for saving him the trouble of executing Seymour or send his scary drunk friend after me. I've heard bad things about that guy."

The president looked inquisitively at Cloud. "You know, Dr. Kimura was so sure that Seymour wasn't suicidal. Did Sephiroth say anything to you?"

"Uh, no. Maybe you need to get a better doctor. I don't think that one knows what he's doing." Cloud kept a straight face while Zack snickered.

"Perhaps, but he's not performing unethical experiments on human beings, that I know of, at least, and that's an improvement over all the previous ShinRa scientists."

"Yeah. Did your father specifically look for the word 'insane' on résumés?"

"He looked for 'genius', and didn't mind if 'insane' went along with it," Rufus said wearily. "Don't worry, the screening process is far more stringent now."

Rufus's attention seemed to be wandering, so Cloud turned to leave. But a strange concern led him to turn back to the unwell, injured man who represented a new kind of ShinRa, one with a heart and a conscience. They were not friends, but they were no longer enemies, and both felt a responsibility toward the recovering planet. Cloud felt uneasy about leaving Rufus here alone...maybe the "famous compassion" Sephiroth had teased him about.

"Do you want to come with me to the prison?"

"Gaia, no. Sephiroth is always at his most unpleasant after seeing Dr. Kimura. Were time not of the essence, I would suggest you postpone your visit to tomorrow."

"I could have Barret or Vincent come here and wait with you."

"I don't have thick enough earplugs or Prozac strong enough to cope with such company." Rufus laughed softly. "What is this, Strife, old loyalty creeping up? I'm perfectly capable of looking after myself."

"Just a bad feeling, I guess."

"Worry for Yuffie, probably. Go on, see Sephiroth, though I wouldn't be surprised if he's reluctant to talk right now. And Strife?"

Holding the open (and dented) door in one hand, Cloud looked back.

"Someone named Leon says hello."

"Right..."

No sooner had the sound of Fenrir begun to fade into the distance than a black-robed figure slipped out of its hiding place and wobbled up the front stairs of the Healin Lodge. If Rufus was surprised by Kadaj's appearance in his rooms, he showed no sign of it, though he did appear confused for a moment when the Black Rider robe was thrown aside. On Loz's advice, Kadaj had chosen to wear a yellow sundress today, and the president briefly thought he was back in his otherworldly dreams, watching a young SeeD gleefully blow things up and babble on about "Sir Laguna".

"Let's not make this any harder than it has to be, Mr. President," the clone said in an eerily calm voice. "You know where Mother is. All you have to do is tell me where."

Now, bear in mind, as former vice-president and current president of a company that nearly killed the planet and made a hobby of unleashing dangerous mutants on the world, Rufus Shinra had learned how to talk his way into or out of anything - or at least to make a noble effort at it. The politician smile Cloud had observed was no fluke or accident; it was reflective of Rufus's finely sharpened ability to know when force will triumph and when diplomacy has the better chance. This keen instinct, the personal charm and tact, the intelligence and skill at inspiring loyalty - these things made Rufus the president his father could never, never have been.

And yet...circumstances were unique. The president of ShinRa was battling a mysterious ailment. He had been nearly killed in an explosion two years earlier. He was wearied by his work atoning for ShinRa's sins. He was being tormented by the gods and the visions they would not stop sending. He was exhausted from lack of restful sleep and knew way more about his faithful Turks than he had ever wanted to. We may forgive Rufus his response to Kadaj's demand, even if Kadaj doesn't take it so well.

"Last time I saw her, she was in this area," Rufus said pleasantly, pointing to a part of his lap that requires no further description.

_socsocsocsoc_

When Cloud arrived at the prison, Barney gave him the same warning Rufus had - Sephiroth might not want to talk right now. Dr. Kimura's visits always put him into a black mood, and he usually stayed there for hours, absorbed in his art and glaring at anyone who spoke to him until they ran away. It might be better to visit another time.

"I've got to at least try."

Barney shrugged. "Sign in and leave your weapon."

As he did so, Cloud asked, "Did you...you know, what I asked last time?"

"Oh, yeah, I just finished switching the bulbs. It'll be a few more minutes before I can get the power back on, so you'd better take this."

Cloud accepted the flashlight but didn't turn it on as he entered the cell block; his mako-enhanced eyes were illumination enough to navigate his way down the silent corridor. When he reached the last cell he stared at the floor and said nothing, waiting to see if Sephiroth would acknowledge his presence.

"The stakes are a bit higher now, aren't they, Puppet?"

"They have Yuffie, don't they?"

"Oh, yes. But you still don't understand why. Zack once led me to believe you were intelligent, too."

"Okay, I'm an idiot," Cloud said desperately. "Just tell me, please. No more games."

"Just one more game, I think. You are too soft-hearted to simply torture what you need out of me with that abominable book, and yet you have grown too strong to be intimidated by the thought of me controlling you. We have reached an impasse, Puppet. The only way now to get me to talk is to talk yourself. Quid pro quo. You ask me a question, I ask you a question, and so it goes."

"And what if I lie?"

"The game ends, and you have what you really want, what you really think you deserve - another loss to hate yourself for."

Cloud felt the chair beside him and sat down. Looking into the cell, he could see only a faint outline moving in the darkness, and now and then a glint of silver. He watched for a hint of green, of Jenova, but didn't see it.

"Go."

Sephiroth didn't hesitate for a second. "Tell me about the first time you saw a chocobo."

Cloud had half-expected this line of questioning, but its surgical precision and the memories it brought up made the tension in his chest mount like a rising tide. Why hadn't the mako and Hojo's madness taken _these_ memories away, instead of the good times with Zack?

"I was nine years old. My mother's brother owned a chocobo ranch near Rocket Town. After Tifa got hurt on Mt. Nibel, my mother thought I needed to get away from Nibelheim for a while, so she sent me to spend the summer with my uncle."

"All right. Your turn."

"Where is Yuffie?"

Sephiroth laughed. "Very well, Puppet, you can have one simple, direct answer. You will find her in Nibelheim, in the ShinRa Mansion."

"That's what you meant about going back to the source of myself, isn't it? My hometown."

"A point of origin for the clones as well. They did not retain as much of their former identities as you did," Sephiroth explained. "As far as they're concerned, their lives began in that town, that house, that laboratory. It is from that place that all their endeavors must start."

"Would you mind if I call Tifa and tell her?"

"Go ahead, Puppet."

Sephiroth fell silent, and only the soft scratching of a pencil against paper could be heard from the enclosed darkness. Cloud spoke quietly into his phone the moment Tifa picked up, and told her he didn't have time to talk before she could express concern for him or begin an encouraging speech. Understanding, she told him not to worry, the _Shera_ would head for Nibelheim. "Be careful," she ended the conversation with, as she always did; usually, hearing this made Cloud feel guilty for putting so much distance between them and not confiding in her the way she wanted. But today, now, being made to reveal a very old hurt to a man who would make him face it, Cloud felt a surge of warmth for Tifa, for all of them. For Tifa, Yuffie, Barret, Cid, Vincent, Nanaki - for them, he would face even the darkest days of his past. Hell, even for Otto. The man knew how to fix a good drink.

"Thank you, Sephiroth."

"My turn, isn't it? How long did you stay at the ranch?"

_He knows, somehow he knows!_ Cloud thought in a sudden panic. He kept this memory in a deeper place than he had ever felt Sephiroth intrude, but how else was he approaching the truth so rapidly? _Maybe he can just see that much of me in my eyes._

Cloud looked away, and Sephiroth laughed softly.

"You're doing so well, Puppet. Don't disappoint me now."

"Three weeks."

"Only three weeks, out of a whole summer? Why?"

"Quid pro quo. It's my turn."

"Of course. Go ahead."

Cloud leaned forward on his hands; since Sephiroth had pointed it out, he had indeed remembered Zack sitting this way. "Why Yuffie, what did they need her for?"

"First, to simplify matters, let's forget about 'they'. The two weaker clones are followers, with no ambition of their own. You are dealing with Kadaj."

"Okay..." Cloud prompted.

"Now, see Yuffie in your mind. How would you describe her?"

"She's a girl."

"Which, I agree, makes her uninteresting, but think, Puppet," Sephiroth went on. "Does she physically resemble...Tifa, for example?"

"No way."

"Why?"

"Tifa is taller...curvier. And..."

"Yes?"

"Bigger," Cloud mumbled, feeling embarassed.

"So if Tifa's attributes are womanly, how might you describe Yuffie, by contrast?"

"Boyish, I guess. Wait..."

"And her height?"

Cloud felt a rush of excitement, the feel of the puzzle coming together. "Her body is similar to Kadaj's! That's why? What, he identifies with her, or something?"

"Good guess, Puppet, but nothing so complicated. Every dressmaker requires a dummy, and your young friend fits the bill. In more than one meaning of the word 'dummy', from what I hear. Now, I think I've been quite generous..."

"You're right. Go ahead."

"Why did you spend so short a time at your uncle's ranch?"

"I...I ran away one morning." Cloud could almost feel Sephiroth smiling in the dark.

"You're being very careful not to lie, Puppet, but you know I won't be satisfied with half-answers. Why did you run away? Did the rancher touch your no-no place?"

"No..."

"Well?"

Cloud exhaled slowly. It seemed stupid to him that the memory should bother him so much, when he had Hojo's experiments and Zack's and Aerith's deaths to compare it with. But however naive he had been at sixteen, thinking he could fight Sephiroth with a sword he could barely lift, Cloud had known by that time that life was cruel and unfair. He'd been much more innocent at age nine...and never again, afterwards.

"I loved the chocobos. My uncle let me ride them, and feed them, and I learned all their names. A baby was born the first day I was there."

"Did you get to name that one?"

"...yes. Please don't ask what I chose."

Sephiroth laughed. The sound of his pencil moving had stopped.

"I'm flattered, Puppet. All right, go on."

"I had a nightmare once, and I woke up early, while it was still dark. There was a noise outside, like screaming, but not quite human." Cloud shut his eyes; he could see it all so clearly. "I thought something was wrong, and I was scared...but I crept out to the barn. The door was open, a little. I went inside. My uncle was..."

"Killing the chocobos?"

"One by one. When his back was turned I grabbed the baby and started running. I didn't get far. My uncle came after me on one of the adults, a fast one, and he was angry. I was glad to go home."

"And what happened to your chocobo?"

"I don't know." Cloud wiped his eyes, no longer caring that Sephiroth could probably see him perfectly. "He was probably slaughtered. I never tried to find out, I didn't want to know. I wanted to be a hero like you, and I couldn't even save a chocobo."

Sephiroth was quiet for what seemed a long time. Cloud looked straight down at the floor but caught a flash of silver that might have been Sephiroth's eyes, watching him gently.

"Your question, Cloud."

"So, Kadaj's cross-dressing, it's important? It means something?"

"Of course. You doubted this?"

"Well, he's a teenager, isn't he? I thought he was just going through a sexual identity crisis or something."

"Kadaj is trying to be something that he's not, Puppet, and that is why he dresses like a woman, to be different. Understand what your enemy wants and you will understand your enemy."

Cloud's eyes flickered in the direction of the cell. His expression was intense and thoughtful, and he seemed to be moving toward something.

"Think, Puppet. String a lot of brief flashbacks together and you'll have it."

_"Cloud! I don't like that man! He kept putting on dresses and asking us how he looked!"_

_"When Rude and I fought Kadaj's gang, they kept telling us they were looking for their mother."_

_"Mother, as she was when I first saw her."_

_"You look like her."_

_"It is because her presence in me is so old and so strong. The more of her cells one has, bear in mind, the more one will resemble her."_

_"He wants his mother and doesn't care who he has to stomp on or how impractical his shoes are for stomping."_

_"You are very close to the answer."_

_"You should never underestimate the holds our mothers keep on us, Puppet."_

_"Not man enough to fight me yourself?"_

_"I am. That is precisely the problem."_

Cloud's eyes widened, two points of blue light in the darkness. "He's trying...to become Jenova?"

"Bravo, Puppet. I knew you could do it."

A low electrical hum filled the air, and the lights flickered on one by one across the small cell block. It seemed painfully bright at first, after growing accustomed to the dark, but the light was softer and warmer than it had been before, no longer clinical and cold.

Sephiroth, standing near the glass, noticed this quickly. He looked up, then at Cloud, and smiled. It was a thoroughly human expression, one that Cloud had hoped for in vain when he was a teenager, one that would've made his crush's advances welcome instead of terrifying.

"Thank you, Cloud," the Nightmare said softly. "Will you give me one last question?"

"Of course."

"Why was your uncle slaughtering the chocobos?"

"I don't know. I think he was just an asshole."

"Ah."

"Does that mean I get another question too?" Cloud asked, standing and stepping close to the glass, ignoring the red line on the floor as he always had.

"Ask."

"Why are you still here? Why are you letting them cage you?"

"Ah." Sephiroth went to the sliding box and pushed it through to the other side. "We all atone in our own ways, Puppet."

Cloud lifted the sheet of sketch paper out of the box, knowing it wouldn't be another pornographic image of himself, and it wasn't. In what had to be Sephiroth's most skillful and life-like work, there was Zack - stretched out on a hospital bed - and Cloud, seated beside him, leaning against each other, both having dozed off. Every detail was there, down to the seams on Cloud's Guard uniform and the signatures on Zack's cast, and it brought back in full color a day Cloud had forgotten almost completely.

_"I thought 1st Class SOLDIERs didn't break bones like ordinary people," Cloud teased, trying to sound lighter of heart than he felt._

_Zack saw through it; he always did. "Don't worry, Spiky, it doesn't hurt. I'd be up doing squats if Seph hadn't threatened to demote me."_

_"You should listen to him, your leg needs to heal."_

_"I'll listen to General Party Pooper, don't worry."_

_Cloud was blushing, as he usually did when they talked about Sephiroth. "Zack, be quiet, he'll hear you!"_

_"Nah, he won't. He's too busy terrifying the nurses." Yawning, Zack pulled Cloud to rest against his shoulder. "Don't let me fall asleep, okay, Spiky? Not while the two of you are here, without me awake to supervise..."_

_"It's fine," Cloud mumbled, turning redder._

_"Maybe it _would _be, if he knew how to express his feelings like a human being. Always try to remember, Spiky, deep down, he's a good guy."_

_"I will, Zack. I know."_

Cloud looked at Sephiroth. Everything he was feeling in this moment shone clear in his eyes, and reflected in his tears.

"Do you think, Puppet, that if you can save everyone you love, that one day the nightmares will end and the chocobos will stop screaming?"

"I don't know. Maybe."

"Go stop the clones, Cloud."

"Thank you, Sephiroth."

_socsocsocsoc_

"This isn't quite the daring and exciting rescue I hoped for," Reno said sadly.

Not by a long shot. Five steps into the ShinRa Mansion, weapons at the the ready, and the first enemy sighted put up his hands. Reno would have happily ignored this and charged anyway, but Rude - more practical by nature than his fiery counterpart - gently held him back.

"Damn it."

"Is this a surrender?"

"Yes," Yazoo said, sounding greatly relieved. "We'll come quietly. I can't handle Kadaj anymore. Just promise to put us in the same prison as Great Sephiroth and I'll do anything you say."

Tifa didn't look convinced. "Where are the others? And where is Yuffie?"

"Oh, you can have her back! She's even louder than Kadaj. Follow me."

Tifa made Yazoo lead the way to the basement, sticking close to him in case he tried to run for it or spring a trap. No one had remembered to equip Enemy Away materia, so their progress was halted twice by flying pumpkins and once by one of those mermen riding on an anchor -

"Just when you think you've seen the extent of Hojo's craziness," Reno said, shaking his head.

- but otherwise there were no problems as the four made their way to the basement. Tifa only had a vague memory of this eerie house - a recollection of their first meeting with Vincent - but Yazoo knew every step of the place, and as he led them deeper and deeper underground, the faint sound of two voices slowly became clearer. One was male, low and dull, the other high-pitched and girlish.

"It puts the Vincent doll back in the basket or it doesn't get to play with my dolls anymore!"

"Ha, ha, it's mine now!"

"But I can't play the fight against Dr. Hojo without Vincent! Give it back!"

"Get me out of here and give me what you promised me and I will! Otherwise I'll break the accessories one by one!"

"You wouldn't!"

"Oops, there goes the Hydra."

"Vincent needs that for sniper shots!" Loz whined.

"Did you hear that snapping noise? That was Cerberus. You know what comes next?"

"Not Death Penalty! Noooo!"

Loz beat the cement floor with his fists and feet. Tifa started forward, now that she could see where Yuffie must be, but Yazoo held her back with a pleading look.

"Stay here for a second, let me talk to him."

Reluctantly, Tifa agreed. Yazoo went to Loz and spoke quietly to him for a few moments. At last, sniffling and wiping his eyes, Loz whispered something in Yazoo's ear and followed him to the others, remaining behind his smaller brother.

"Loz agrees to surrender, but he also has a term to add to mine."

"I want Turk dolls," Loz said bashfully.

Reno grinned. "Heh, no problem. We'll even make 'em anatomically correct, if enough plastic can be found."

"Okay," Loz said. "But she took my Vincent doll."

"We'll give it back once we get Yuffie out of there," Tifa promised. "How do we do that? Is there any rope around here?"

Yazoo shook his head. "I don't think so. There's a really long pole on the floor over there, that might work."

While the Turks went to retrieve it, Tifa leaned over the edge of the deep hole in the floor. "Yuffie! Are you okay?"

"Tifa! I love you!"

"We're gonna get you out of here. Move as far to your left as you can while we lower this thing...be careful, guys, keep it steady."

Fortunately, the long cylinder reached the bottom of the shaft with a few feet to spare. Rude held it steady, rolling his eyes behind his sunglasses as Reno snickered.

"What? All this talk of shafts isn't getting _you_ excited?"

"Yuffie, can you climb up?" Tifa called.

"I, um, I don't think so."

"She hurt her ankle when she jumped in there," Yazoo explained.

"You _jumped_ down there?"

"They said there was materia!"

"Oh, Yuffie." Tifa looked at the Turks. "Someone's got to go down and get her, someone strong enough to carry her up."

"Hey, you're the one who fights hand-to-hand, why don't you do it?"

"Because I don't trust you two up here alone, you'll probably forget about the clones and sneak off to find a bathroom!"

"Shit, that's...a really good reason."

"So...Rude?"

"Not a good climber," the Turk said stiffly. "But he is."

"Okay, okay," Reno sighed.

He grabbed hold of the pole, swung himself out over the edge and, once he had a good grip, began to descend. Reno could climb as quickly and easily as a spider, and within seconds he had reached the bottom. Wrinkling his nose in distaste, he invited Yuffie to cling to his back and began to make the ascent.

"Wow," Tifa murmured. "He really is good."

"He climbs my pole every night," Rude said gravely.

"Thanks for sharing."

"And then he slides down."

"I really don't need that in my head, Rude."

Once out of her prison and on solid ground, Yuffie hugged her rescuer tight and seemed unwilling to let go. It took the firm tugging of both Tifa and Rude to free the struggling Turk from her clutches.

"Reno! I love you!"

"Sorry, babe, you're missing a few parts that I consider essential. Not many, you know, but a few."

"Yuffie, are you okay?"

"That jerk lied to me! About materia! And I had to give him all my measurements, and he made me try everything on and wouldn't let me keep any of it..."

But Yuffie, cheerful as always, seemed willing to forgive and forget. She handed Loz the Vincent doll she had been careful to bring up with her, and the unbroken Death Penalty gun accessory. Loz received them with an expression of delight and hugged the action figure to his chest.

"Where's Kadaj?" Tifa asked the clones.

Yazoo winced. "Um...he said something about destroying Edge. And President Shinra."

"Oh no," Reno groaned. "I knew we shouldn't have left Boss alone!"

"Let's get back to the 'Shera'. Cid can take us to Edge, and I'll call Cloud and tell him what's going on." She turned back to the clones and raised her fists in warning. "Remember, you surrendered. You try anything, you'll get introduced to my friend Barret. He's been wanting a few minutes alone with you two ever since you kidnapped his daughter."

Yazoo blinked. "That was _his_ daughter?"

"Yes."

"Why isn't she black?"

"Just come on!"

_socsocsocsoc_

"Say, Kadaj. I've got a question for you."

"I've got an answer."

The top-most floor of this building, still open on one side and undergoing construction, afforded them a wide and nearly complete view of Edge. It was a small city, destined to grow as all cities are from their beginnings. Midgar had looked like this once, a lifetime ago, and Rufus wondered if he would soon see a repeat of the old city's fall. Five centuries from this moment, he knew from the visions, Midgar would be reclaimed by the forgiving planet and covered in a canopy of green and growing things. Only the race of Strife's odd canine friend would be around then, and they would stare down at the ancient ruin and shake their heads at the folly of man.

_Smug bastards. At least I don't drink out of the toilet._

Kadaj was waiting, impatiently fiddling with the materia slotted into his armlet. He didn't seem to be experienced with the stuff and had chosen and arranged the orbs by color, more concerned with aesthetic effect than practical use.

"What makes you think any amount of Jenova cells will make you into Jenova? Sephiroth has the highest concentration of anyone, ever, and he bears a resemblance to her. No more than that."

The young clone glared back at him from the ledge, annoyed that anyone would dare distract him with little things like logic.

"When Mother's presence in me is strong enough, she will tell me how to become one with her. There must be a way to extract her cells from Loz and Yazoo, whatever it takes."

"You would sacrifice your brothers? What about Cloud, and Sephiroth?"

"Other Brother is a traitor. Anyway, he'd probably be happy to have me end his sufferings."

"And Sephiroth?"

"Sephiroth, Sephiroth, Sephiroth!" Kadaj shrieked, stamping his yellow heels. "It's always been about Sephiroth! Mother likes him more, Dr. Hojo liked him more - "

"He had a funny way of showing it, then."

" - and he ignored us, his own brothers, like we weren't worthy of his attention! Well, I'll show him, I'll be closer to Mother than he could ever be, and then he'll be the one serving me! I will _be_ Mother, and the planet will be mine, to rule or destroy, forever."

Slumped in his chair, Rufus laughed softly.

"What? What's so funny?!"

"Poor little remnant. You have no idea what you're caught up in, do you?" Kadaj glared at him, but Rufus showed no sign of fear. "The theme of our story, the story of this world, is life. Life is nothing more than this planet continuing to turn and breathe, and defend itself against the forces that threaten it. The Cetra knew this. Jenova destroyed them and another people rose in their place, just like other races will replace us in the centuries and millennia to come. Go on, bring your Nightmares and your Calamities from the sky. As long as the theme remains, it won't matter. Certain things will never change. There will always be a Cid, and a Bahamut, and a crisis that seems beyond the strength of human power or infinite time. There will always be a few who are willing to die to stop it. Cloud will always win and yet never be truly happy. All of us pretty boys will go on being objects of lust and violent fantasy to drooling fangirls. And this series...er, this planet, I mean, will never, ever end." (1)

Still facing away, Kadaj lifted his arm and gestured to the softly glowing orbs he had equipped. "In that case, it doesn't really matter if Edge is destroyed, does it, Mr. President? Now, tell me where Mother is, or I will summon the death of this entire city."

"I don't think you will."

"You think I'm bluffing?"

"No," Rufus said calmly. "I think you don't have any summon materia equipped."

"Ha, what's this then?" Kadaj asked, tapping a blue orb.

"Support materia. Summon materia is red."

"No, it isn't."

"Yes, it is."

"No, it isn't!"

"Well, it was before, so logically - "

"LOGIC IS FOR NINTENDO PLAYERS!"

Completely forgetting to find his happy place, Kadaj extended his arm out over the city spread beneath them, in the direction of the Meteorfall monument below, and a blue light burst out of his armlet and tore through the gathering clouds. Stunned, Rufus was about to find his voice and congratulate the clone for somehow casting magic with what was probably an All materia...when the clouds turned dark and threatening, and what looked to be a deformed dragon was casting its ominous shadow over Edge.

"Another one?" the president whispered. "What's that now, nineteen?"

Panic was beginning to rule the streets. There was no telling where the Turks might be, or Cloud, or anyone else capable of facing an enemy like this. Rufus could only watch this new horror the gods were allowing and wonder what kind of sick (though brilliant) bastards they must be. It was Midgar all over again, and again, he could do nothing to save it. Rufus, in his guilt, was forgetting that the people of this city were survivors of Meteorfall, which had been much worse than this, and so did not expect what happened next.

A single, valiant battle cry arose from the weary citizens of Edge, the refugees of the ruined Midgar, a battle cry that has seldom been sounded by so many noble, pants-wetting souls at one time. And that cry was:

"AH! WHO'S GOT THE STRATEGY GUIDE?!"

_To be continued! _

_We're nearly done. :(_

_(1) You hear that, SquareEnix? "Dirge of Cerberus" better not be the last sequel! "And so the hound weaves the final chapter in this tale of life" my ass. With all due respect, of course._

_BTW, that mention of Leon will be the only Kingdom Hearts reference. I've never played them and only know a bit about them. Can someone explain why Squall (okay, weirdo, I'll call you Leon) is older and Seifer is apparently twelve? That doesn't look fun at all._

_A big thank-you to all who have been reading and reviewing, you guys really brighten up my day._


	6. Chapter 6

_Warning - spoilers for FFVIII and FFX. _

**THE SILENCE OF THE CHOCOBOS  
**_Chapter 6_

"Strategy guide?" Rufus repeated, emphasizing each syllable. "What is a strategy guide?"

"No idea," Kadaj said, adjusting his yellow barettes. "But whatever it is, it won't help any of you now. There's no one here who can stop Bahamut Sin!"

"Sin? Oh, no," Rufus muttered to himself. "Auron decided to send his drunk friend after me after all. Where's Cloud when we need him?"

The clone laughed coldly. "Sorry, Mr. President, I don't see him. All I can see is a crowd of people about to be eaten and what looks like a chocobo headed this way on a motorcycle. Oh, fuck."

Rufus smiled.

_socsocsocsoc_

Cloud sped through the streets of Edge, unable to go at Fenrir's top speed as he had to continually weave his way through the panicked people...all of whom appeared to be looking for something rather than taking cover or evacuating. Cloud could see already that the fiend appeared to be a summon, probably one of Bahamut's many siblings, and it was ripping great clawfuls out of buildings and stomping on those unfortunate enough to get caught underfoot. It reminded him of the old monster movies Barret was fond of watching.

_Ooh, I remember those! Seph and I used to watch 'em late at night, and Seph would be like, "I hope Hojo never sees this, it'll just give him ideas", and I'd be like, "I think I saw something like that in a test tube at the lab", and - _

"That's great, Zack, but this isn't a good time. I've got to contact the others and form a party."

_Don't you need your PHS for that?_

"Damn. Well, I can at least call Tifa." Cloud stopped Fenrir, dismounted and grabbed hold of the first guy who ran screaming past him. "Hey! Let me borrow your phone."

"Okay, okay, here!" The young man produced a cell phone and nervously fumbled it into the spiky-haired stranger's hand. "Hey, don't I know you?"

"I don't think so."

"Yeah, Cloud Strife, right? It's me, Phil! Remember, from the Guard?"

"Oh!" Cloud said awkwardly. "Right. It's been a long time."

"You've been busy saving the world, I hear. Who would've thought, huh? Is Zack still stalking you or did you finally get that restraining order?"

_Hey!_

"Uh, no, he's still around. We're closer than ever, in fact."

Phil laughed and clapped him on the shoulder. "Yeah, I kinda figured it would happen eventually. Way to go."

"I didn't mean - "

"So what are you up to now?"

"Eh, you know. Saving the world. You?"

"Running for my life. Speaking of which, I gotta get back to that, but we should hang out sometime."

"Yeah, sure."

_Heh heh heh heh..._

"Shut up, Zack." Cloud quickly dialed Tifa's number; she picked up before the first ring had ended. "Tifa, it's me. How close are you to Edge?"

"Cloud! Are you okay?"

"Yes. How close?"

Tifa put the phone down for a few seconds and spoke to someone over the noise of loud meowing and Cid throwing something. "We're minutes away. How bad is it?"

"Remember Weapon?"

"Which one?"

"Any of them."

"Uh-oh."

_socsocsocsoc_

"Highwind!" Reno yelled, vaulting over Yuffie to get to the ship's controls. "Please tell me this thing's got torpedos or something!"

"I've been meanin' to install those, really. Something just keeps coming up."

"I can guess what!"

"Like you can talk!"

"The president's down there and he's in no condition to do any fighting!" Reno shrieked, waving a cattle prod. "We've got to do something!"

"Well, until I can find a safe place to land, I don't see what we _can_ do."

"Too bad you guys don't carry around parachutes, like me," Yuffie said cheerfully. She was sitting on one of the railings that led up to the main control station and casually swinging her feet over the floor.

Rude seemed interested, for the first time, in something she said. "You have parachutes?"

"Well, one. All Wutai ninjas carry them. We used to carry bazookas, but they were heavy, you know? And there are a lot of high places in Wutai, and you don't want to get stuck on a cliff or the top of a statue with stolen...er, borrowed materia and no way to get down."

"Gimme!" Reno yelled, flying at her.

"Hi-yah!" Yuffie poked him in the eye and slid down the railing, out of reach.

"Ow, that hurt!"

"My parachute, not yours!"

"But I need to get down there!"

"We all do," Tifa reminded him. "But a single parachute would only hold one of us."

"Too bad Heidegger isn't here," Reno grumbled. "We could make parachutes for all of us just out of his underwear."

"I think I'd rather jump unaided, in that case," Rude said with a grimace.

"If that ever happens, I'll be ready with the Phoenix Down," Reno promised, laying his head against Rude's shoulder. "Would you rather use _my_ underwear?"

"You know I would."

Tifa interrupted, relieved to have an excuse for doing so. "That's it!"

"We're using Reno's underwear?" Yuffie asked, confused but not necessarily against the idea.

"No - "

"Good," said Rude. "He's not wearing any anyway."

" - we jump without the parachutes, from the lowest height Cid can get us to," Tifa explained. "You two and me. Yuffie will follow, using the parachute, and revive us with Phoenix Down and X-Potions. I brought plenty."

"You really think you can trust her with somethin' that important?" Cid said, looking doubtful.

"Hey! I _can_ do it! You can count on me."

The pilot shook his head. "Whatever, as long as I get to stay here. I'll get y'all as low as I can."

"Faith, I be unsure that ye could sink much lower, laddie," Cait Sith laughed heartily.

Cid grabbed the animatronic cat and heaved it at the nearest wall. Again.

_socsocsocsoc_

"Excuse me! Can I have your attention!?" Cloud was barely able to make himself heard over the noise of panicking civilians. Even waving the intimidating Ultima Weapon wasn't slowing anyone down. "Damn it, don't you people know how to take cover?"

"Hey, kid, we're trying to help, you know?" a middle-aged man said angrily, as he heaved a large rock through the window of a bookstore.

It happened to be the same bookstore that always had _Loveless_ in stock, so Cloud didn't much feel like reprimanding this behavior. But there were children within sight of this vandalism, and Tifa was always nagging Cloud about how heroes should set a good example. One day, he told himself, he would remind her about her affiliation with a certain eco-terrorist group known for causing giant explosions.

One day.

"How does looting help anything?"

"I'm not looting!" the man said indignantly. "We're trying to find the strategy guide. No one remembers where we last had it."

"The who what?" Cloud asked, but the stranger was gone, hurrying toward the back of the store.

The summon had caught sight of the one tiny human who was not only not running in fear, but also armed. Apparently eager for a fight, Bahamut Sin dropped the car it had been shaking like a rattle and headed Cloud's way.

_Uh, Spiky? I really don't think you should be facing this thing alone._

"You and me both, Zack," Cloud whispered, holding his fighting stance with a defiant expression. The summon was close now, ready to attack -

"Sore wa nan da?" (1)

"Some sort of Bahamut, I think. Wait...Barret?"

"And Vincent."

His two old comrades (opposites in personality, but equally welcome) hurried to Cloud's sides, Barret armed with Missing Score and Vincent reloading Death Penalty. Cloud felt himself smiling, and not just with relief; it was like old times. Not that the fighting they'd all done together pre-Meteorfall had been a happy, stress-free experience, but it had always felt good to work as part of a team of people he cared about. Maybe because, even before Cloud's memories had begun to return, fighting reminded him of training with someone whose attention and encouragement had gotten him to this level.

_Show me what you learned, Spiky._

"Do either of you have a Bahamut?"

"Zero," Vincent replied.

"It's worth a shot."

Unfortunately, perhaps due to some sort of nepotism, Bahamut Zero didn't take a single point from the improved version of itself. Cloud couldn't be sure, but he thought he saw the two summons high-five each other and roll their huge eyes as if to say, "You know how it goes, they call, we come. It's nothing personal."

"Either of you have Sense materia?"

"Alas, no."

"Okay...who's got Mime?"

Barret yelled something that sounded affirmative.

"Be ready with it! Vincent, Ramuh!"

Willingly, Vincent faded from their sight, and in his place the figure of an old man appeared, brandishing a staff and calling upon the element of Lightning.

"NO!" A voice came from behind Cloud, and was quickly close enough for its owner to grab his shoulder. "Not Lightning!"

"Reno, do not touch me while I'm armed."

"You hot, emo moron, I'm trying to help!" Reno had what looked like a glossy-covered book opened to its last page and was waving it around erratically. "Look, it absorbs Lightning!"

Cloud looked back as Ramuh finished his attack and disappeared, and saw that Reno was correct. The summon, far from helping, would have restored their opponent to full health had it not been there already. Vincent cursed softly and began to fire with Death Penalty. Barret joined in, and while they covered him Cloud was able to turn his attention away from the battle for a moment.

"How did you know?"

Impatiently, Reno waved the book again, and Cloud caught a gimpse of the words 'strategy' and 'guide' on its spine.

"Never mind, just tell me what to do!"

Reno grinned. "Heh, I hoped you would say that. How bad do you want to know?"

"You can't be serious."

"Hey, don't point that thing at me! You can't kill me anyway, how else will you know what to use against Bahamut Sin?"

"Did you say Sin?"

"Demi!" Barret thundered by way of suggestion, preparing to cast.

"NO! Shit, how did you fuckers ever save the world?" Reno shouted, shaking his head. "Demi's not reliable against airbornes! Hell, forget it, Strife, we'll just say you owe me. You want to hit it with anything strong and non-elemental except other Bahamuts, also Poison, and Knights of the Round if you've got it."

"Thank you."

"You want to thank me, help the president!" Reno called as he sprinted away.

"Okay, anyone got Bio?"

In answer, Vincent sprang lightly into the wind Bahamut's movements were generating, leaving the ground far behind as he dodged the claws that grabbed for him. Elegantly as a bird in flight, Vincent somersaulted out of reach, curled his body like a whip around the monster's hideous face, and returned to the ground and his fighting stance with the grace of a dancer. Bahamut Sin's head was now tinted with a sickly green, and his movements were awkward and sluggish.

Barret paused his rapid fire, and his expression relfected Cloud's confusion. "Wakarimasen," he grumbled to himself. (2)

"Me neither. Vincent, what was that?"

It was hard to be sure with the cape and muffler leaving so little of the ex-Turk visible, but they thought they could see the faintest touch of pink on the ghostly white cheeks.

"The cape is not washable," Vincent said softly, with a rare trace of humor.

As Barret made an "ugh" noise and turned away to cast Ultima, the two former lab specimens shared a faint smile.

"You're never gonna get your own game if you keep clinging to the odors of the past, Vincent."

"At least I have theme music."

Cloud grinned. "I've got Knights of the Round. Barret, get ready to Mime."

"We will cover you, Cloud."

"As long as it's not with your cape."

_socsocsocsoc_

"Boss! Boss!"

Reno ran at top speed up the nineteen flights of stairs to reach to reach the top floor. Rude was keeping up, though panting too hard to form the words of caution he wanted to say. It wasn't exertion so much as it was a discomfort with high places that sped up his breathing. Reno suspected it was this fear that made Rude such a distracted climber. He didn't even like being in the helicopter, and only endured it because his partner liked it so much.

Reno felt a rush of love for his gruff other half, but quickly reminded himself that this was neither the time nor the place. Still, his resolve was challenged for an instant, as they barreled past an unfinished bathroom and into the floor's main room.

"Boss!"

Rufus and Kadaj were there, looking out into the open space where the room's fourth wall was supposed to be. Reno snickered for a moment - _Hey, Boss really did knock it down_ - then sprang forward, only to be held back by Rude as Kadaj pointed his short blade at his captive's head.

Kadaj looked at the Turks critically, as though he'd never seen them before. "Why is it," he began, "that the sight of you makes me want to replace my bathroom fixtures?"

"You should ask Sephiroth," Rude said coolly.

"Forget Sephiroth! He won't be able to ignore me anymore!"

Reno looked at Rufus, who was gesturing that he should keep talking. "Sir, the other clones have been taken into custody. Cid Highwind has them under guard on the 'Shera'."

Kadaj looked shaken, but recovered himself quickly. "That doesn't matter. They only got in my way, anyway."

"Very good," the president said. With Kadaj's eyes still on the Turks, Rufus gestured to his lap, then smiled. He indicated the ground below the ledge, and made with his fingers the signs for Tseng and Elena. "Reno, Rude, perhaps you should lend Cloud and his friends a hand with that aeon down there."

Reno frowned at the unfamiliar word, but he understood, and obviously Rufus wanted them to keep talking, perhaps as a diversion. He gave the president a look, as if to say, "No way am I gonna just stand here and chat." Rufus removed a piece of sketch paper from his robe, unfolded it and displayed it with a patient expression. Reno recognized Cloud and Masamune, and grinned.

_Yes, sir!_

"They've got it under control, Boss. I knew this thing would come in handy," he said, holding up the strategy guide.

"Ah, so you knew what they were talking about?"

"Knew?" Reno laughed. "I wrote this thing! It's got survival tips, monster stats, a materia guide, you name it. Every town and village has at least one copy. How else did you think I paid off my gambling debts?"

"Well, to be honest - "

"ENOUGH!" Kadaj shrieked. "Tell me where Mother is _now_, or face the wrath of my fashionable materia!"

The clone was slowly forgetting about Rufus, who seemed to be no threat with his wheelchair and tired, half-hidden face. Kadaj stepped closer to the Turks, who kept their expressions from changing as the president quietly stood up.

Reno smirked. "You want Jenova, huh? Well, I haven't seen her around. But I could give you her 900-number."

Kadaj screamed like a child having a tantrum, and a blast of Comet2 threw Reno and Rude into the far wall and brought large chunks of the roof down on them. Even as they began the grueling process of freeing themselves, Reno could be heard snickering.

"Is that all you got, Mini-Sephy? I've taken harder hits from Elena!"

Kadaj growled, but turned away, satisfied that the president's watchdogs would be occupied for at least a few minutes. He stopped short, though, when he saw Rufus Shinra standing unaided, and triumphantly ripping off his gray robe and hood and tossing them into the wind.

"Wh-what..." the clone stammered.

"I know, I know," Rufus said glumly. "Tseng said I would look good as a blond. That's the last time I listen to him."

"B-but the wheelchair!" Kadaj cried. "I thought you were crippled or had a terminal illness or something!"

Rufus smiled smugly. "Nope, just Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I'm fine as long as I don't overexert - "

His eyes fluttered and began to roll back into his head. Just as President Shinra stumbled backward and slipped over the edge of the floor, Kadaj noticed the box he held in one hand, and its contents called to the identical cells in Kadaj's body and made his eyes flash a fiery, enraged green.

"MOTHER!"

Time seemed to slow, and every detail of every object became sharp and bright. Reno and Rude redoubled their efforts to get free of the rubble surrounding them, shouting for the president though they knew it was too late. Several blocks away, Cloud had mounted Fenrir again -

_Lucky Fenrir._

Shut up, Zack. - and was speeding their way, unconsciously following the pull of his own Jenova cells to the spot on the ground where the box was headed. Tifa, busy passing out Potions to the wounded, paused to laugh with joy and relief as a little boy ran to her and accepted her hug.

On board the _Shera_, Cid was cheerfully regaling Loz and Yazoo with the story of his efforts to bang a woman named Celes. Cait Sith, with whom he'd made a grudging truce, was in charge of the bridge, singing orders in an accent that the poor flight crew couldn't decipher. In the center of Edge, beside the smashed Meteorfall monument, Yuffie and Vincent were watching Barret finish off Bahamut Sin. He had grown sick of Miming and was now only firing off bullets from his frequently-malfunctioning gun and insults that made the weakening summon roar.

"Uh, what's he saying?"

Vincent was flipping thoughtfully through a thick phrase-book. "My guess would be disparaging remarks regarding the chastity and temperament of Bahamut's mother. Is he using polite forms?"

"Heh, definitely not," Yuffie giggled.

In these agonizingly slow moments, the unconscious form of Rufus Shinra continued to plummet toward the street below, followed closely behind by Kadaj. Two long, hammock-like nets shot out across their path only ten feet from the ground, fired by Tseng and Elena, who had been stationed nearby. One of them caught Rufus, but the box slipped from his limp hand. Kadaj snatched it out of the air and landed on his feet, easily, quickly smoothing his dress back into place.

The roar of a motorcycle intruded upon his moment of victory. Cloud was approaching fast, and from the part of him that was linked to Sephiroth, Kadaj knew that the look of determination on Other Brother's face was a very bad thing. Fortunately, a motorcycle had been abandoned nearby in the furor following Bahamut's attack. Clutching Mother's cells protectively, Kadaj commandeered the bike and made his escape, with Cloud following relentlessly behind.

_socsocsocsoc_

Rufus was aware of nothing that happened after he had begun to fall. In his weakened state and in the absence of enough rest, unconsciousness came all too easily, and with it, flashes of the other worlds he had seen before. First, everything was hazy and overbright, the sky blue and sunny over a beach strewn with large boulders. The sound of urgent voices came on the wind from far away, but they were unclear. From where he lay on the sand, Rufus could hear a voice from much nearer, one he knew well and had been dreading.

_"That's the last time I trust you with the gateway between worlds. You're as irresponsible as your father."_

Rufus frowned and would have protested indignantly had he been able to speak, but another voice - young, male, and extremely impatient - answered, and Rufus realized Auron hadn't been talking to him.

_"Hey, it was an accident! You think I was _trying _to let Sin out?"_

_"I think you'd do anything to avoid facing Jecht. Cry-baby."_

_"Creepy old man."_

_"Shut up, Tight-Ass."_

_"Ooh, like I haven't heard _that _one before!"_

Two figures were above now, standing on either side of him. The bright sunlight made them as dark as shadows, but the one Rufus didn't know peered down at him curiously. It was a teenaged boy Rufus vaguely recalled from previous visions, blond and blue-eyed like Cloud but clearly his polar opposite in personality.

_"Who's this, Auron? Not that I expect you to actually _tell _me anything."_

_"Just another son of a friend that I stupidly agreed to look after."_ The warrior monk frowned at Rufus and shook his head. _"You shouldn't be here. You're disrupting the continuity of our worlds."_

Rufus still couldn't speak to give a reply to this, but no matter, the sky and the figures faded, and the next thing he knew he was in a bright and cheerful office. The scene beyond the opposite windows was what appeared to be a technologically advanced city made of strange metals and colored glass. It brought to Rufus's mind the world of people and places brought to life on screens, but there was only one person in the room, sitting behind a desk, and he was definitely not a god. He appeared to be having trouble working a stapler.

The man looked up at Rufus with an open, good-natured face, and frowned, more bemused than alarmed. He pressed a button in front of him and said into a small intercom, _"Kiros, I think there's a ghost in my office."_

_"No more late-night horror movies, Laguna,"_ a deep voice answered him.

The man the voice called Laguna pouted slightly at the intruder, but when he spoke again he seemed to be addressing someone who was not there. _"Ellone, is this your doing? Do I have more kids I need to know about?"_

As this vision faded out and the next began, Rufus came to a decision. _The gods definitely hate me. That's the only explanation for this._

_socsocsocsoc_

Kadaj had not been heading anywhere in particular, his only objectives being to escape Cloud and not lose the prize he'd taken from Rufus. Even so, he followed the most direct route from Edge to the remains of Midgar, and sped to the old Sector 5 slum as though an invisible chain were pulling him there. In fact, it was a powerful, loving female voice that was guiding him to the abandoned church, and in Kadaj's desperate longing to be close to his mother, he could only believe it was her.

_Aerith does a great Jenova impression, huh, Spiky? She's been working on it._

Kadaj got inside the old structure about two minutes ahead of his pursuer. He knew Cloud couldn't be far behind, but now that he had in his possession the means to reach his lofty goal, Kadaj couldn't wait a moment longer. He skidded over the creaking floor, bringing the motorcycle to rest in the center of a bed of oddly glowing flowers, and eagerly turned the black box over in his hands, looking for the opening. Mother's cells were whispering to him, calling on him to liberate her, to be one with her in a way precious Sephiroth had never dreamed of...

His fingers found a clasp and tore at it, Jenova's cage sprang open...and into Kadaj's glove spilled a handful of shimmering silver hair, very like his own but much longer. Dumbfounded, Kadaj looked into the box, turned it upside down and shook it violently, but there was nothing else in it.

He turned his focus quickly back to the silky hair, as he could hear Other Brother approaching and time slipping away. He pressed the silver strands to his face, to his bare skin, and felt the powerful presence of Mother in them. But these were not her cells, this was not her! Even as Kadaj desperately tried to chew and swallow some of the hair, he knew he could not absorb the cells that had already been processed by another body.

The only other contents of the box was a slip of paper, which had fluttered out of the darkness into Kadaj's lap. It read:

_**I, Sephiroth, former general of the ShinRa military force known as SOLDIER, do hereby agree to provide President Rufus Shinra with a Jenova sample that will be of no use to my clones, in exchange for President Shinra's promise that he will do whatever it takes to convince Cloud Strife to visit me here in this prison, preferably of Puppet's own free will.**_ Beneath was scrawled Rufus Shinra's name, alongside Sephiroth's elegant signature.

"NOOOOOO! MOOOTHERRR!" Kadaj howled, dropping the empty box, beating his fists against the handlebars of the bike, now and then pausing to spit out strands of hair while he kept the rest in his grip. Once he would've revered this relic of his greatest brother. Now it seemed that Sephiroth was mocking him, reminding him that no one could be dearer to Mother than himself.

Cloud was not at all surprised at the sight of the young clone throwing a tantrum, though he was perplexed for a moment to see Kadaj coughing up what looked like a hairball. Only for a moment, however. He sensed whose hair that was as easily as Kadaj did, and smiled, knowing Sephiroth well enough to guess what he had done. Rufus's precaution had been Sephiroth's as well, and though Cloud knew his old adversary had his own reasons for thwarting Kadaj's plan, it was just as easy to suppose that Sephiroth might have done it for him.

"You!" Kadaj shouted, leaping off his motorcycle in a tearful rage and rushing at Cloud with his blade unsheathed, though his dress was really too short to run in. "It's all your fault! Everything!"

"Me? Hojo made you what you are, Rufus and Sephiroth are the ones who tricked you. All I've been trying to do is protect the planet!"

"You wouldn't understand," Kadaj wailed, attacking with a swing that Cloud easily avoided. "Everyone loves you! Even Great Sephiroth! All I have are Loz and Yazoo and they betrayed me! They never understood me!"

_Aw_, Aerith said sadly. _Poor thing. He's all alone._

"I j-just wanted to be Mother so she could never leave me," Kadaj sniffled, raising his sword to charge and instead letting it fall to his side. "Everyone leaves. I didn't l-like Dr. Hojo but he was b-better than being alone."

Cloud sheathed the Ultima Weapon and stared at the young clone with more than his usual sadness. How miserable would someone have to be, he asked himself, to wish for even Hojo's company? Cloud, he knew now, had been lucky by comparison. Before and during the years of being a guinea pig he had had Zack watching over him, and now he had living friends too, who loved him so much that they wouldn't let him pull away from them. "Where has that famous compassion gone, Puppet?" Sephiroth had asked him, and in truth it hadn't gone anywhere. He wanted very badly to help Kadaj, but he had no idea how to do it.

_Kadaj._

The teenager looked up hopefully, recognizing the voice. It wasn't Mother, he quickly realized, but it was loving and gentle.

_Would you like to come to the Lifestream? Jenova can't torment you there, and I promise you'll never be alone again._

Kadaj smiled. For the first time, in this moment of peace, he didn't look like a young Sephiroth. He resembled no one Cloud knew, and yet the bond between them could be felt for the first time without the enmity of adversaries. Here was a stranger, but someone who had been hurt and changed in the same way Cloud had, by the same man and the same calamity. Remove Jenova from the equation and Kadaj was more innocent than Sephiroth. He deserved peace and forgiveness no less.

_Aerith, I can't kill him._

_Don't worry, leave it to me. Stand clear, Cloud._

Cloud moved away from the center of the room and waited, wondering what she was going to do. From the soft luminescence of the flower bed, a spout of oddly glimmering water began to form and rise. When it ascended halfway to the cathedral-height ceiling, the top of the gleaming pillar began to expand, thinning itself out until it resembled a thick sheet of living glass. As Cloud and Kadaj stared in awe at the remarkable sight, the water began to fall in heavy drops, quickly filling up the gaps in the wooden floor. Kadaj put out his hands to catch the rain, and closed his eyes as the water dissolved him like smoke in the wind. As his body melted away, his spirit broke free and soared into the sky, returning to the Lifestream, escaping Hojo's madness and Jenova's ambition at last.

_So, Aerith...your new limit break is acid rain?_

_Apparently so_, she giggled.

_Uh, is that safe to use around materia?_

_Definitely not, why?_

The explosion shook the entire church, answering before she could.

_socsocsocsoc_

Touch was the first sense to return to Cloud. The arms cradling him were ones he knew, and his confused mind wondered for a moment if he'd been injured in training again. It was just like Zack to be clingy and protective like this, whether over a skull fracture or a sprained ankle. Beyond his eyelids the light suggested white surroundings, like a hospital, but the air was still, with little movement around to stir it. Cloud felt no pain or wound anywhere on his body, and when he heard Aerith's voice as well as Zack's, he remembered everything, and realized he was in the place between the planet and the Lifestream where Aerith sometimes brought him.

_Zack, I know how you feel_, she was saying gently from somewhere nearby.

_He's been through enough. Tifa and the others can take over, let him stay here. Please._ Zack hugged Cloud closer to his chest and turned his upper body away from Aerith's voice.

She didn't sound any happier about what she was saying. _He has to go back. He's alive._

_No, he isn't_, Zack insisted stubbornly. He picked up Cloud's arm by the wrist and let it drop back into his lap. _See, he's not moving at all. Completely limp. SOLDIER's honor._

Very slowly, remaining as still as possible, Cloud found Zack's hand and squeezed it to let him know, and not Aerith, that he was awake. Zack squeezed back, nearly tight enough to elicit a whimper.

_I see what's going on here_, Aerith said in a high, haughty tone. _I'm not enough for you! Am I?_

_Aw, hell_, Zack muttered into Cloud's hair.

_...been so understanding all this time, you know, even though I was probably only a replacement for Cloud, and I bet you were thinking of him when we - _

_I guess I really shouldn't be subjecting you to this, huh, Spiky?_ Zack whispered into his ear.

Cloud squeezed his hand again, not really meaning to say either yes or no. All he knew was how safe and warm he felt here against Zack's heartbeat (or maybe it was only the memory of his heart beating) and that no matter what Aerith believed or how annoyed she was, she would never force him to go back if he begged to stay. The Lifestream was so near, and he could be there with Zack and Aerith, and his mother.

_Aer, c'mon, you know I love you too._

_Yes, I know_, she said, sounding somewhat mollified. _But what about Sephiroth?_

Cloud stiffened. Zack felt it and tightened his grip around Cloud's middle.

_I still care about him too, even though he's a psychotic mama's boy now._

A sharp smack was heard, followed by a low groan. _You know what I mean! He's still a danger to the planet._

_So let someone else handle it._

_Zack, you know better than that. No one else can._

Cloud slowly opened his eyes. Aerith was looking right at him now, and she didn't seem at all surprised to find him conscious.

"Zack...she's right."

Regretfully, Cloud sat up and, regretfully, Zack let him. They looked at each other, eyes bright with both mako and tears. Cloud knew Zack would still be with him as he'd been all this time, that nothing would change, but somehow it was the bluff overlooking Midgar all over again. The passing of the Buster Sword, the haze of mako poisoning lifting, Zack's blood running out with the rain...

Fighting to hold onto his courage, Cloud threw his arms around Zack. Zack returned the hug, nearly lifting him off his knees.

_I know she's right, Spiky._

"I have to keep my promise, don't I? To live for both of us?" Cloud asked. "And...maybe I can help Sephiroth. Maybe I can get him back to the way he used to be."

_You mean your other stalker?_

"He's a good man, you told me once. I have to try."

_You try, then. And we'll be with you. Right, Aer?_

_Of course._ She came up behind Cloud and put her slender arms around both of them.

Cloud smiled, feeling the emotion behind the expression with more certainty than he had in a long time. In that moment, from nowhere and everywhere, a beautiful music came and encircled them, as palpable as the greenish tendrils of the Lifestream. He had never heard it before, but it sounded familiar, like something out of his own thoughts or dreams...could it be...

"Is that - "

_Theme music!_ Zack pretended to wipe away a tear. _You hear that, Aer? Our baby's all grown up._

The white was beginning to fade. Cloud closed his eyes against Zack's shoulder and resigned himself to returning to his life. A hand brushed downward from the small of his back, and he laughed softly.

"Fine, Zack, just this once."

_Who said it was Zack?_ Aerith giggled.

_Hey! Gaia, no one respects dibs anymore, I swear!_

_socsocsocsoc_

Again, touch was the first to return, a feeling of floating in lukewarm water, but the other senses followed quickly. The church was all around him, and many people, and the blue sky overhead was visible through a hole in the ceiling - maybe the one he had once crashed through himself, or Zack before him. A relieved murmur passed through the crowd of observers as Cloud opened his eyes, and several pairs of small hands were tugging at him.

"Tifa," he said, knowing she would be there, "why are there children touching me?"

"They were worried."

"Yeah, that was Zack's favorite excuse. He used to worry a lot about my - "

"Cloud!"

"I know, I know, not good with kids."

The children moved back as Cloud stood up. He looked at them one by one and couldn't remember meeting any of them, but they were all grinning at him with awe or excitement. No doubt they knew him by reputation and the stories of his adventures, the way he had first come to know Sephiroth. His eyes fell last on a girl with pigtails who was clutching a stuffed chocobo. He tensed at first notice of the toy, then saw a collar around its neck, and a nametag that read 'Cloud'. He smiled again, and the music continued.

"It's like she said," the little girl told him. "Wait here and Cloud will come back."

"Hi, Uncle Cloud!"

He turned toward the sound of Marlene's voice, and there she was, holding onto Barret with one hand, squeezing Cait Sith and the Moogle with the other arm.

"I'm back."

"Duh," Rude said calmly. He and Reno were holding up an unconscious Rufus between them; Reno picked up one of the president's wrists and made him wave. Tseng and Elena stood behind them, both casting a disapproving look on their red-haired colleague.

Cid was behind Cait Sith, raising a half-empty bottle in Cloud's direction. Beside him, Vincent nodded gravely, saying everything he felt with the gentle gaze of his blood-red eyes. Yuffie was using his shoulder as leverage to bounce up and down, waving as though in fear that she might go unnoticed. A furry creature walked on all fours around her to the front of the group, holding himself with the strange nobility he always did, and greeted Cloud with a vaguely canine smile.

"Nanaki! I thought you were traveling with Bugenhagen. What are you doing here?"

"Saying this line, and nothing else."

Cloud's eyes fell on Tifa last, and she stared back with a sort of proud smirk, her way of saying, "I never doubted for a second that you could do it." He gave her a slightly embarassed smile, and she stepped aside and nudged someone forward.

"Look who I found."

"Denzel! You're okay!"

The boy looked surprised. "You remembered my name," he said, sounding pleased.

"Denzel, why don't you tell Cloud why you didn't come home?"

"'Cause...'cause I'm tired of being called a noob. I felt like you didn't want me around."

Cloud thought for a moment, then put out his hand. "Come here."

Shrugging, Denzel stepped into the pool that had formed around the flower bed and waded out to Cloud. Cloud cupped his hands together and dipped them below the surface, letting the water fill them before lifting them up.

"Sono mizu o nonde wa ikemasen yo!" Barret called out in alarm. (3)

"No one's gonna drink it, Barret."

Denzel looked apprehensive, and watched Cloud's hands as they hovered over his upturned face. He blinked and sputtered a bit as the water poured onto him, then looked at Cloud - not quite cheerfully - for an explanation.

"Uh," the hero said uncertainly, "it's, er, symbolic. You are hereby an official member of the family, and no longer just a noob."

A grin spread over Denzel's face, pushing the annoyance out of it, and he jumped up and down, hitting the bright water with his hands and splashing everyone nearby. "I'm canon! Didja hear that, everybody? I'm canon!"

Applause broke out all around the room, even from the nameless townspeople who had no idea what they were doing there or what cannons had to do with it. Still, everyone seemed to sense, in this poignant moment, the will of the gods in the shape of the past and present, and the intentions of these all-knowing creators moving them toward an exciting future. In his oblivious sleep, Rufus smiled. The gods knew what they were doing after all.

"Don't think this will be a big change," Cloud cautioned Denzel. "Only the eye candy get storylines and dialogue."

The little girl with the stuffed chocobo tugged Cloud's arm and pointed at the open doors behind the crowd. "Ooh, then how come he's not saying anything?"

Cloud looked across the church and smiled. "I don't know. This is the quietest I've ever known him to be."

From the ethereal light that filled the doorway, Zack pouted at him playfully. Beside him, Aerith watched with the affectionate peace Cloud remembered, the faith in the planet and the people she loved that she had carried with her, so selflessly, into death. She seemed more alive now than she ever had before Sephiroth's sword tried to prevent her prayer for Holy, and she was smiling at Cloud not because she felt the ghost of Zack in him, but because she saw Cloud for who he was. She always had.

_You see? Everything will be all right._

Aerith's eyes were green. Not the toxic green of Jenova working her terrible will, but a gentle green, the color of life the way it's meant to be. The trees of Nibelheim in spring. The grassy fields where chocobos run. The Lifestream itself, where everything has its ending and beginning.

"I know," Cloud said. And he did.

_socsocsocsoc_

**EPILOGUE**

Seventh Heaven was livelier than ever that night, with a celebratory afterparty that lasted till dawn. It wasn't long before Marlene and Denzel were sent to bed and Tifa ordered everyone to keep the noise to a minimum, but even quietly, the triumphant, cheerful atmosphere prevailed. Friends and grateful townspeople dropped in and out for hours, many sticking around to watch the amusing spectacle of President Shinra presiding over a corner table and getting steadily drunker. Unsurprisingly, Cid was right there with his usual whiskey, egging him on.

"Otto! Another round of Degenerators for my friend here!"

"Uh, are you sure? He looks ready to pass out."

"Aw, he's just gettin' started, aren't ya, Prez?" Laughing, Cid clapped Rufus on the back, which pushed his upper body onto the table where his arms formed a pillow beneath his head. "Hey, buddy! Weren't ya tellin' me you figured out the plot?"

"No infringement has been intended," Rufus mumbled half-consciously, "on the property of SquareEnix."

"You got a square penis?" Cid asked, spraying whiskey and saliva as he cackled. "No way! That I gotta see to believe."

"...like to thank reviewers," Rufus went on sleepily, his voice muffled by a mouthful of sleeve. "AyakoAki, Ardwynna Morriqu, Kotoba, ladyaffirmed, Dark Queen Come To Krynn, Jade003..."

"Wha's that? You hafta pee? I'm comin' with you then, 'cause I think you're pullin' my leg."

"...seasnake.756, misty200229, Uchina, Kitsune Kit, Chaos-sama9, Stoic-Genius..."

"Otto! More fit genie pants, whatever that is!" Cid yelled unsteadily.

Tifa brushed past Barret on her way down the stairs, as he was on his way up to say good-night to the kids, and she took over behind the bar for Otto, who went to check the recipe books for the drink Cid had called for. Cloud was at the bar talking to Reno and Rude, and he smiled at Tifa as she approached.

"So, Reno, you think you'll keep updating that strategy guide? It's a pretty useful thing, I've got to admit."

"Eh, I don't know. It takes time away from my Turk duties, and from my chocolate love bear here. He gets so jealous."

Cloud made an 'ugh' face. "Chocolate love bear?"

"I melt in his mouth," Rude said matter-of-factly.

"Uh, nice."

"And sometimes in his hand. But most frequently in - "

"Tifa, I need alcohol. Now."

"You can try my very latest invention, then." She had it already prepared, and presented to Cloud a tall, slender glass filled with bright blue liquid and topped with a layer of foam. "I call it a Cloud Nine."

He laughed. "What kind of alcohol is in it?"

"Every kind we've got."

"I love you."

Tifa flushed pink and nudged him roughly. "I know. We all know."

"Excuse me, Strife?"

Cloud turned around to find Dr. Kimura, looking very solemn. "Are you looking for Rufus? He's over there, but I doubt you'll get anything coherent out of him tonight."

"That's fine, I can give him my report tomorrow. But I thought you should know, right away, that Sephiroth has escaped."

"Hmm."

The doctor frowned suspiciously. "You don't seem surprised."

"No. I didn't help him break out, if that's what you're implying. I think he just...accomplished what he stayed for."

"And that would be?"

Cloud drummed his fingertips against the bar and said nothing.

"The president will probably insist you be guarded, as he will be himself."

"I need more time with the Turks like I need another round of mako poisoning," Cloud scoffed, half-expecting to hear Reno protest, but Reno and Rude had disappeared (no doubt in the direction of the nearest bathroom). "I don't think Sephiroth will come after me directly, that's not his style. If he threatens the planet or my friends again, I'll stop him. But I won't hunt him down, and I definitely won't hide from him."

Dr. Kimura smiled ruefully. "Perhaps I was too hasty in my conclusions about you all those years ago. I think you would have made a fine SOLDIER, Strife. I wish you'd gotten the chance to re-test."

"I thought that wasn't allowed."

"It isn't, except on the unheard-of occasions in which the general himself intervenes, which he was doing in your case at the time of the Nibelheim mission. By the way, I spoke to a Dr. Lange at the Mideel Clinic. He confirmed that the patient who gave the name Jay Enova was an unstable, silver-haired young man who applied to the clinic for gender reassignment. So it seems Sephiroth's information was genuine."

Cloud smiled faintly. "I couldn't have stopped the clones without his help."

"He left this for you," Kimura said, handing over an envelope with the blond's name written on it. As the doctor excused himself, Cloud opened it and unfolded the letter with more eagerness than he would've admitted to.

_**Puppet, **_it began, _**I have a few things I must attend to before our next fight to the temporary death. In the meantime, give my regards to Zack and keep yourself ready for my return. For I will be back, make no mistake about that. Don't think I've cut your strings or that I will ever do so. Our story will never be finished, and I know, dear Puppet, you await the next chapter with anticipation, as I do. My will is stronger and shall triumph in the end, but I so enjoy the fight you give me. Sephiroth. P.S. You will tell me, won't you, when the chocobos stop screaming? I will never be so far away that I cannot hear your answer.**_

"Cloud?" Tifa said anxiously. "Is something wrong?"

"No. Everything will be all right."

_socsocsocsoc_

"...and so the planet is safe again, for now. The work of Hojo's madness has been defeated once more. Cloud continues to atone for his supposed sins. And perhaps Sephiroth, wherever he is, will find a peace of his own."

The cave's only light came from the glassy prison that encased the form of a young woman, but it was enough to make every feature of her face clear. She was lovely and unchanged by the passing of long years, but there was almost nothing left in her of the cheerful, ambitious doctor Vincent had once been assigned to guard. Only now and then her voice would come to him faintly, as though from far away.

_I'm so sorry..._

Vincent looked at her, concealing his sadness and helplessness behind a neutral expression. He wanted to tell Lucrecia there was no need to apologize, that he loved her still enough to forgive her, but he knew she was not speaking only to him. A glittering tear streamed down her cheek when Sephiroth's name was mentioned, the son she had betrayed and would never forgive herself for. Vincent could not insist she absolve herself any more than Tifa could make that demand of Cloud. Time would end her suffering if anything could, and time Hojo had given them, perhaps eternity in the bodies he had altered and tortured.

Vincent turned to leave, and spotted a shape on the floor of the cave, in the same spot where he had once found Death Penalty. He picked up the bottle and examined it, then looked at his lost love with disbelief.

"You cannot be serious."

Another tear fell from her eye, the only sign she had heard his objection.

"Very well."

Grumbling, Vincent removed his tattered red cloak and began to spray it with the Febreze.

_socsocsocsoc_

"I thought Great Sephiroth would be here," Loz said dejectedly, looking around the cell that was their new home. "I guess he really doesn't like us."

"It's okay, Loz. I'm sure he just had things to do. He'll come back, you'll see." Yazoo stood up and stretched. "Besides, it's not so bad here. Other Brother and his friends promised to visit, and that new doctor is nicer than Hojo, right?"

"I guess so," the larger clone said, plopping down onto the floor to pick up his Reno and Rude dolls.

A familiar set of footsteps approached, and the prisoners cheerfully looked up. They were already very fond of Barney, who brought them anything within reason that they asked for and told them stories about Sephiroth, with whom he'd become friendly over two years of guarding him. Barney was carrying a box wrapped in brown paper, which he handed into the cell through the glass door.

"A package for you, Loz. The scans say it's safe, so here you go."

Loz accepted it excitedly and tore off the wrapping in small pieces, making a mess of paper that Yazoo patiently cleaned up. Both he and Barney watched with interest as the other clone ripped the box open and made a squeal of delight. From the neat folds of tissue paper and styrofoam peanuts, Loz retrieved an action figure with long silver hair, a black cape and an enormous, slender sword.

"My Great Sephiroth doll!" Loz shouted, hugging it to his chest. "I thought I lost you forever!"

"But...how? Who sent it?"

There was a note at the bottom of the box. Loz, who was not very literate, passed it carelessly to his brother and continued to squeeze his old favorite toy.

"'I found this among Hojo's files and equipment, and thought you might like it back. Sephiroth.'" Yazoo beamed at Loz. "I told you he likes us."

Loz hardly seemed to hear. He was walking the Sephiroth doll into the miniature bathroom playset and threatening the Turk dolls in his calmest, smoothest voice.

_socsocsocsoc_

The humans of this world are so weak, Sephiroth said to himself as he stood in the shadows of rows of thick curtains. It had taken great restraint on his part not to laugh at the security who tried to prevent his entering this restricted area; there had been no need to unsheathe Masamune when bare hands would do the job with less fuss. Their bodies were stacked neatly in a storage closet, along with the body of a nosy stagehand who had been foolish enough to spot Sephiroth and make a comment the ex-general hadn't understood.

"Amazing costume!" he had exclaimed. "Is this some sort of SquareEnix publicity stunt?"

"If you value your life, puny human, you will forget you ever saw me here."

"No need to be a jerk just because Cloud kicked your ass."

Clearly, the idiot human _hadn't_ valued his life.

Now Sephiroth had a clear view of the stage, and could see his target beneath the bright lights overhead, seated at a piano. To his knowledge, Genesis had had no interest in music during their days together at ShinRa, but by the sound of it, he'd done a lot of practicing to develop this talent. Whatever name he went by now, Genesis seemed to be happily absorbed in the music and the adoring cheers of the crowd, and did not sense his old rival lurking in the wings, eager for revenge. He was facing away from his observer, and the sight of a paperback book in his back pocket filled Sephiroth's eyes with an insane fury.

Genesis waited for the applause to die down and addressed the audience in, coincidentally, one of the two official languages used by ShinRa. "This next song is a new one, inspired by a story that's very special to me."

Sephiroth's nails dug into his palms deep enough to draw blood.

"I'd like to dedicate it to an old friend I haven't seen for many years. Wherever you are, Seph, no hard feelings."

_I am here, old friend_, the Nightmare thought with a cold smile. _And _you _will soon be feeling something hard - namely the ground rushing up to break your fall._

_socsocsocsoc_

In his sleep, Cloud vaguely felt Sephiroth's satisfied mood and smiled, unaware of its source. As he drifted to the depth of slumber where dreams begin, the young hero was aware only of Zack's soft snoring and Aerith's occasional laughter. She was always awake and was usually the one who gently woke Cloud when the nightmares came. They would not come tonight, but she kept watch anyway, humming a song that evoked images of a white flower field and a planet at rest.

When Cloud's dreams arrived at last, they were of life only, not death. Zack was dragging him gleefully through the halls of a ShinRa building while Sephiroth followed behind, his eyes fixed and shining silver. Tifa was gazing up at the stars, asking Cloud to promise to save her if she should ever need help. Aerith was leading him onto a gondola in the Golden Saucer as fireworks lit up the night sky. Hojo was being eaten alive by fire ants, but that was more a fantasy than a memory.

The peace would not last forever, it never would, but for now there was no screaming and no one he was unable to save. As the planet he helped to protect continued to turn and breathe, Cloud was able to live in the silence of the chocobos.

At least, until he met Cid's next "girlfriend".

_The End!_

_Translations:  
(1) "What is that?"  
(2) "I don't understand."  
(3) "You mustn't drink that water!"_

_Thank you to all who read and reviewed. Blue ribbon to Dark Queen Come To Krynn for correctly guessing that Genesis's new identity is, in fact, Gackt. No offense intended to Gackt, who I actually like very much. No infringement intended upon the makers of Febreze, which I am very fond of. Apologies to Cid fans for that last line and fans of good taste in general. Since Zack didn't get any in this story and Sephy did, I shall give him the last word._

_Zack: "Hey!"  
Cloud: "I agree with Ardwynna. I'm tired of being everyone's butt-monkey."  
Me: "Sorry, sweetie, that's never gonna change."  
Sephy-Pants: "Stop calling me Sephy-Pants."  
Me: "Happy Holidays to all! And I've typed my fingers numb to get this last part out quickly, so thank me with reviews! Good night!"  
Zack: "I was supposed to have the last word. Next time, I'm calling dibs."_


End file.
